Braehead Clan Head Coach Ryan Finnerty has vowed the club will be back as they continue to fight their ever-growing absentee list.
Alex Leavitt was the latest to call off with suspected food poisoning, adding to the injuries of Matt Keith, Matt Haywood and Scott Pitt.
Finnerty couldn’t confirm when any of these players would return, but made it clear his team are not out of contention.
He said: “It doesn’t look great regarding the team from where we’re at. We’ve got some long term injuries and I’m not sure what the prognosis is at this point.
“We remain hopeful and there seems to be more guys in the physio room than on the bench.
“We desperately need them and we understand there are frustrations among the fans. We have to make sure we don’t give up, wallow in self pity and just lose.
“Manchester caught us at the right time, but we’ll rebound. It’ll sting just now, but we’re far from dead and out of the race and we’ll come back with a vengeance.
“My team battled and we just didn’t get the bounce we maybe could have got another night.”
Finnerty rued his team’s luck as Manchester won 2-1 to make it a four-point weekend at Clan’s expense.
Once again the Clan coach turned to assistant Richard Hartmann and youngster Duncan Speirs to help out during the injury crisis.
He added: “It was a night where we couldn’t find a way past (Zane) Kalemba and despite after having shot after shot on him, we just couldn’t score.
“We just didn’t get the luck in front of the net, and I feel bad for the guys on what’s been a tough week for everything that’s gone on in here and for this to happen is frustrating.
“Jordan Cownie decided against playing for whatever reason, which we’re unsure about. We could have used him and played him where he wanted to play.
“He would have had the opportunity to showcase what he can do and that he can play in this league.
“Nevertheless, we went with Richard again as well as Duncan, who has showed great attitude and could definitely be one to watch in the future.
“Duncan’s been popular in the dressing room so far and the boys have spoken highly of him, which is good. If we can find a Duncan Spiers in the future to step up, it would be worth it.”
(Image permission: Al Goold Photo)
