DAMIEN DUFF will miss tomorrow's Premiership clash with Southampton.

The Republic of Ireland international has still not recovered from the hamstring problem sustained in the Worthington Cup semi-final with Manchester United.

But defender Craig Short has recovered from hamstring and calf problems, and should start, possibly alongside Henning Berg, with Martin Taylor dropping to the bench.

Tony Parkes said: "We have missed Craig while he has been out and he is somebody that we need to have available."

New signings Danny Higginbotham and David Prutton are both in contention to make debuts for Southampton.

Higginbotham, a £1.25million signing from Derby, is in line to start at left-back, because veteran Francis Benali is struggling with a calf injury and England star Wayne Bridge is out for a further two weeks with a similar problem.

England Under-21s captain Prutton, signed from Nottingham Forest for £2.5 million pound, could figure after being unavailable for the FA Cup win at Millwall in midweek.

Meanwhile, Chesterfield have failed in their attempt to sign midfielder Jonathan Douglas.

The Spireites asked about a possible loan move to Saltergate, but Douglas has since forced his way into Graeme Souness' first-team plans and featured in the FA Cup tie at Sunderland.

Chesterfield's assistant manager Lee Richardson said: "We asked Blackburn about his availability and we tried to get him down here, but it looks unlikely now."