GARY Croft has joined Blackburn Rovers' ever-growing long-term casualty list - out for four to six weeks with a dislocated left shoulder.

That was the verdict from hospital today and yet another serious injury is making Ewood manager Brian Kidd's mission to keep the club in the Premiership virtually impossible.

He has had his squad ripped apart and, while Kidd's aim of rebuilding with a properly structured plan in place is to be applauded, desperate times need desperate measures.

The manager needs help now in terms of more playing resources and that can only come via the transfer market.

Otherwise, relegation will soon become a reality.

Croft was kept in hospital overnight after being injured in Rovers' latest defeat by Everton, which leaves them deep in trouble.

And the growing crisis shows no sign of abating with even more problems for Saturday's trip to another of the relegation strugglers Coventry City.

Kidd finds himself with just one established central defender available, as Darren Peacock joins Marlon Broomes on the banned list.

And now he has only one acknowledged full back in Callum Davidson, after the latest blow to Croft.

There is a chance of Chris Sutton returning but that will not do anything to solve the midfield problems which are, perhaps, the major reason behind Rovers' decline. Croft was taken to hospital during the second half, after falling awkwardly, and was expected to be released today.

Kidd has steadfastly refused to complain about the incredible ill fortune which has hit the club this year but even he must be getting to the end of his tether.

A dozen senior players were unavailable either through injury, suspension or illness last night and the situation shows little sign of improving.

They are having to rely on younger players to try to do a job that needs established and experienced seniors.

And, despite the effort, it does not look as though it will be enough to keep them up.

"I don't want to go on about it but when you see what we're down to, it makes it a wee bit difficult to say the least," said Kidd.

"We're down to one recognised full-back and one centre-half on Saturday. That's without going into midfield - but you could go on and on."

Understandably, he insists he will not spend for spending's sake but time is running out and the market would seem to represent Rovers' last chance of a reprieve.

"You can't go panic-buying. If there were players available that we wanted, I would go to Mr Walker and see what he could do, but I'm not going to do it," he insisted.

"That would be insane. You can't just make buys like plucking off trees. We could only buy players who we feel could do a job for us."

A report in one of today's national tabloids that Everton defender Marco Materazzi was felled by a missile thrown from the Blackburn End surprised Rovers officials.

And Materazzi himself, who had lengthy treatment towards the end of the game, told Liverpool journalists that he had suffered the injury in a clash of heads during a tangle with Ashley Ward.

The fans clearly felt he was faking the injury.

"There was some reaction in that part of the ground but no mention of anything untoward was made by any othe officials afterwards," said secretary Tom Finn.

"We would have to wait and see if there is anything in the referee's report."

Rovers' final home game of the season will now be against Manchester United on Wednesday, May 12.

United's victory over Chelsea last night means that their scheduled visit to Ewood on Saturday, April 10, has been postponed - it is FA Cup semi-final weekend.

The new date for the game is also set to have a kick-off time of 8pm, following last night's problems when traffic congestion delayed thousands of fans.

Despite a recent statement from police that kick-off times would not be altered to accommodate late arrivals, last night's match was put back by 15 minutes.

The club are now likely to experiment with the new kick-off time.

Tickets for Saturday's game at Coventry will go off sale at 12 noon tomorrow. They are priced £20 adults, £10-50 juniors and senior citizens.

Any remaining tickets may be on sale at Highfield Road on the day of the game but there will not be any concessionary prices available.

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