GARY Waddock was left cursing his luck with injuries after Wanderers were left with long-term absentees in successive weeks.

Sam Wood was yesterday ruled out for ten weeks with sprained knee ligaments, a week after Marvin McCoy was sidelined for three months with a leg fracture sustained at Watford.

And with Matt Bloomfield struggling with a groin problem and Danny Foster still out with a mystery ailment, Wanderers boss Gary Waddock is getting down to the bare bones.

He said: "I'll have to have a head count this morning.

"If you take four senior players out, it makes the squad a little bit lighter.

"We were disappointed for Woody because he’s done very well since joining the club.

"He had the scan results on Wednesday. It’s not as bad as we first feared but it’s still a nasty injury and he will be out for a while.

"With Blooms it's been an ongoing problem he's had for a little while. We'll see what he's like for this weekend."

There's better news with Waddock hopeful Foster will be able to join in full training next week with an injury that has been causing headaches to the Adams Park medical staff.

Waddock said: "It's a problem down one side of his body, which has been really stiff and sore. Theo [Foley, physio] has been trying to release that. At the moment, touch wood, he's OK."

The injury problems - with youngsters Matt McClure and Charles Dunne getting over knocks and Dave Winfield recovered but lacking match fitness - could force Waddock to dip into the transfer market.

But the Blues boss said any new faces are unlikely to be in the squad before tomorrow's visit from Bristol Rovers.

He said: "We're going to have a look at that and see if we need to do anything regarding that. We're not going to rush into anything. We want to see the timescale of these injuries."

Blues' first team squad features a number of youngsters but Waddock says he doesn't want to throw them in just yet.

He said: "We want them to get a little bit more experience in terms of being on the bench and being round the first team group."

Waddock felt the small size of his squad may have been a factor towards defeat against Gillingham on Tuesday.

He said: "Gillingham made five changes to their starting line up from Saturday and there was a freshness about them during the second half, whereas we stuck with the team that performed up at York on a hot day. That might have contributed to the performance second half."