Jordan Obita, Garath McCleary and Danny Williams were all taken off during Monday’s 1-1 draw with Leicester City nursing knocks.

Both Danny Guthrie and Hope Akpan are not yet at full fitness while Mikele Leigertwood is suspended for the key trip to Wigan this Friday (3pm ko) following his dismissal against the Foxes.

That means manager Nigel Adkins will yet again have a patched-up squad for the visit to the DW Stadium, and he explained how he is doing a

balancing job with his players.

“We went into the last game playing chess, knowing we’ll get an hour out of this person or half an hour out of some. Then in the game we had to make three subs because of injuries,” he said.

“Jordan was injured, you could see him limping. With Garath, we’re playing him and not playing him, then he’s

training and not training. We’re doing everything we can, and so is he, to make him available and be effective.

“The easy thing would be to say ‘there you go, have a few weeks off’ but we just can’t afford that. We’ve got to keep pushing as much as we can, with all the players.

“If someone picks up an injury in the next two weeks, that potentially runs it really, really tight.”