BURNLEY Football Club's last 14 fit first team players set off to Gillingham this afternoon as the injury crisis deepened for Stan Ternent.

And he admitted: "We will have to throw a couple of the youngsters on to the bench."

The Burnley boss surveyed his walking wounded and added: "This is as tough as it has been in my time at Burnley, I had hoped such days were behind me.

"But there is no point moaning about it, life is hard work and you just have to get on with things. Who knows what might come out of adversity."

The games will be coming thick and fast over the Christmas period but that does not make the crisis any worse, according to Ternent.

"Injuries at any time are bad for us because of the squad we are carrying," he said. "We have 14 senior players for tomorrow and this will be a real test of their ability."

And he admitted that it is not just the club's financial problems that might stop him bringing any players in on loan.

"All teams have a lot of matches and that means they are not keen to loan players out at this time of year," he said.

The biggest blow is the long term injury to Steve Davis, out until March with a knee problem.

"We are without the skipper for the foreseeable future," said Ternent, after Davis limped out of the 6-2 defeat by Rotherham last Saturday.

Also injured from that day are Lee Briscoe, who damaged his groin, Alan Moore, who has got a strain and Paul Cook, struggling with a shoulder injury for the past couple of weeks.

They join Andy Payton on the sidelines while Gordon Armstrong limped out of the reserve match on Wednesday with a hamstring problem.

Briscoe, Cook and Moore can play on the left side of midfield and that is going to be the key area of concern for Ternent tomorrow, as he explained that big central defender Earl Davis will be having his loan spell at Stalybridge Celtic extended.

"I have got cover in defence with Arthur Gnohere, Ian Cox and Mark McGregor," he said. "That is not too bad and I am not too bad up front. The problem is in the middle of the park."

With even the barebones creaking Glen Little, Paul Weller and Tony Grant pick themselves leaving one key decision to be made in terms of both personnel and formation.

Ian Moore can come in, either as a wide midfielder or as a third striker. Alternatively Mark McGregor could switch to left back allowing in form Graham Branch to move to wide midfield.

But Ternent is not going to allow his players to make excuses and he insisted: "The atmosphere is good despite the disappointment against Rotherham. That is now history and we have got to bounce back.

"I always try to encourage the players to have a smile and a laugh. It is a good pitch down there and we expect a very competitive and tough match."

The one thing he does not want is any more injuries ahead of the Boxing Day clash with Wolves at Turf Moor and so he will be hoping that whichever players he puts out, they will all come back fit and well.