NPL Division One East
Vill Powell is confident his Brighouse Town forwards will be back in battle very soon.
Powell has somewhat a crisis upfront as Laurence Sorhaindo, Zeph Thomas and Mohammed Ibrahim are all injured.
“They are all injured, that’s the situation,” Powell told Non League Yorkshire.
“Laurence is out but should be back within the week or ten days and be contention to be on the bench (on Saturday).
“Zeph (Thomas) is the same thing, hamstring.
“TJ (Mohammed Ibrahim), hip.
“So those three are out and they have been key players this season but they should be back this month or early next month.
“That’s why (midfielder) Elliott (Harrison) is playing upfront at the moment.
“Jack Boyle has been playing up there as well but he is injured as well as he’s damaged a blood vessel in his eye so he’s out.
“You get injuries in a season and we’ll have to keep punching and see where it takes us and that’s what I say to the lads.”
With limited attacking personnel, Brighouse face a massive test in the home game against title-chasing Shildon tomorrow.
Brighouse are tenth, 17 points from the play-offs.
Powell knows the odds of them reaching the top five are stacked against them but he is not writing the campaign off just yet.
“The season is about going as a far as we can in the County Cup and finish as high as we can in the league,” he said.
“Until fifth becomes mathematically impossible, that’s the aim.
“Yes I know it is a long stretch but we’re capable of doing it if we put a run together.
“In terms of next season I don’t really start thinking about that until things become clear such as we can’t mathematically finish in the play-offs.
“That’s won’t really take place until next month when the picture is clearer.”
The answer is “never-say-never but unlikely” when asked about the potential of new signings before the season’s close.
However, Powell does have his eye on recruits for next season.
“I wouldn’t want to start talking about players who are at other clubs,” he said.
“But we have a black book of players who we think can step-up and we want to give an opportunity to and we’ll do that.
“In terms of doing it right now, I still have faith in the lads who are here to show the right attitude to ensure we finish the season strongly to ensure whoever I add to the squad is competition rather than replacements.”
Brighouse were participants in a video clip that went viral this week.
Their winning goal in the West Riding County Cup quarter-final tie with Steeton came via a very controversial penalty.
The video sparked widespread condemnation of the referee.
Speaking after the game Powell felt the official had reason to award the spot kick.
“From my angle it looked like the lad had hold of Alex’s arm and that’s what I assume the referee saw,” he said.
“Listen, it is one of them – you sometimes get them and you sometimes don’t.
“They feel hard done by but I felt we should have been better in the final third.
“We got into some great positions, both on the left and right in front of goal and we didn’t have that final correct pass.
“I think we probably just nudged it on pressure in the their box.
“I don’t recall Brett having anything to do in the second half whereas I thought we had a lot of pressure in their half, certainly in the second half.”