Bruce Will Be Three Players Short For St James' Park

Last updated : 07 January 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor






...  Nicklas Bendtner and Stephen Kelly both picked up serious injuries in the 3rd round match at St Andrews.

A late goal from Sebastian Larsson saved Brum's cup season, after they had defender Radhi Jaidi sent off for a professional foul at the end of the first half.

Bruce: "The big thing for me is the disappointment of losing Nicklas and Stephen, especially Nicklas. He will be a huge, huge loss and we fear the worst regarding his ankle.

"He is not in a very good way in the dressing room and will be on his way to hospital. We hope that x-rays and scans in the next 24 to 48 hours will not reveal much damage, but it does not look promising. We will know tomorrow if the ankle is broken, but it looks like it will be weeks or maybe months out of action, judging by the pain he is in.

"Bendtner fell down a bloody hole in the pitch. It's being relaid tomorrow, but it's been my fear that something like this might happen. We were going to relay the pitch a couple of weeks ago, but the weather was too bad at that stage.

"For 35 minutes we played as well as we have done for a long time. I wanted a performance out of them and we got it. But we paid for a mad two minutes where we made a mistake from a corner for their equaliser and then the mistake from Jaidi led to his sending-off."