WITH a glut of fixtures in a busy early spell, Bradford Park Avenue could have done without a flood of injuries.

But that is what they are facing as Martin Drury became the latest player invalided out of contention.

Avenue played six Vanarama Conference North games in the opening month of the season and their next four are crammed into a nine- day period.

It would be a testing enough schedule with a full squad but with four players waiting to go under the surgeon's knife, it will be even more demanding.

Avenue boss John Deacey said: "We play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Monday and we have got only 16 or 17 players available.

"It is a massive period for us and we need to get points on the board to keep on the shirt tails of the clubs above us.

"There are a couple of long trips in there as well, with Fylde and then Lowestoft. I had to look on the map to find that and there are no motorways to it. It will be a long journey."

Deacey confirmed that four of his players need operations before they can return to action when he announced his squad for today's home clash with Boston United.

"Nathan Turner should be having his op on Monday and, if all goes well, we might see him some time in October," said Deacey.

"Alex Davidson also needs an op on his knee and he is pencilled in to have that over the next couple of weeks. But we won't see Martin Drury or Adam Clayton for a long while.

"Clayton was wrongly diagnosed right at the start, so that held things up. They thought it was a hernia in the groin area but it is a hole in his hip and the rarity of the op he needs is making it difficult to schedule.

"I feel for all the players missing out because of injury but I'm particularly distraught for Martin.

"He has had a lot of problems and missed most of last season and players with his quality ought to be playing and enjoying themselves and giving enjoyment to supporters.

"There was no-one within 15 yards of him when he went over and I feared the worst when the stretcher was called for. It is the third time for the lad and it affected the others.

"We were only 20 minutes into the game and I could see it in the faces of our players. Their heads were down. I'm a big one for body language and I could tell just how bad the players felt for Martin.

"But that's football. It was the same for the lad at Guiseley (Danny Hall) who broke his leg in the final friendly.

"Mark Bower (Lions boss) has had it as bad as anyone with injuries and, like us, some of his close-season signings still haven't played."