THE injury crisis that has dealt a severe blow to Dorchester Reserves' chances of taking the Dorset Combination League title shows no sign of easing ahead of tomorrow's visit to Bournemouth Sports.

Talented 15-year-old Dan McDonald is the latest casualty, leaving the Avenue Stadium after Wednesday night's 2-1 defeat by Holt United looking like a heavyweight who had just gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.

"He got an elbow in the face from Lee Bradford, who was booked for the foul, and by the end of the night his eye was closing up and his nose was badly swollen," said Simkin.

"We will have to wait and see how it is tomorrow but it could be his nose is broken too."

With Mike Kelly, Jorge Diaz, Andy Legg and Steve Moore also still sidelined by injuries, Simkin said he was struggling to put out a side again tomorrow.

"The first team don't have anyone spare again, so it's a case of battling on until the injury situation improves," he added.

"Three defeats in our last four games have certainly hit our chances of staying top because the massive advantage we had a couple of weeks ago has gone and others like Holt, Hamworthy United and Gillingham all have games in hand.

"The bottom line is I don't have enough players left and from recent experiences this is no league to throw in young kids."

Dorchester Res: Elm, Toms, Newland, Poore, McDonald, Taylor, Baines, Dovell, Evans, Drake, Cornick, Rowlands, Dunn.