I THOUGHT it was a struggle without Sam Vokes against Brighton, so if there are question marks over his fitness again this weekend then that is cause for concern.

I’m yet to determine what sort of striker Rouwen Hennings is, perhaps he just needs a goal to get him going.

I think that is the case with George Boyd, who although gave an improved performance last weekend is still lacking the spark that made him player of the year last term.

I’d love him to get a goal at Cardiff tomorrow and trigger him on.

Up front though, without Vokes, Ashley Barnes and Lukas Jutkiewicz, having been blessed with strikers in the summer we now have a shortage, and that’s the first place I’d be looking to strengthen in January. Because even if either Barnes and Jutkiewicz do make it back before the end of the season, as we’ve seen with Vokes it takes a while for players to get over cruciate injuries and get back to their old selves.

Going back to last weekend, you can see why Brighton have gone unbeaten for so long. They are a very tough outfit.

Our response to going 1-0 down so quickly was excellent, though, and it’s a point that you might look back on at the end of the season as a good one.

Tomorrow will be a very difficult game, but playing away should play into our hands.

We don’t get at teams like we used to, we sit back more and we’re not 100 miles an hour.

We’re still great defensively as two banks of four and a top goalkeeper, so I’m always confident of not conceding many. But going forward is different. We try to catch teams on the counter, which makes me more confident of getting results away from home.

But a lot will depend on Vokes’ availability. His absence has made it clear that we need to strengthen.

While there were some good players on the bench against Brighton, there was an alarming lack of frontmen.