ADRIAN Heath was facing the worst injury crisis of his managerial career today.

The Turf Moor treatment room resembled a scene from casualty as the Burnley chief sifted through the wreckage of Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Bristol City.

Up to EIGHT senior stars are under treatment and the Clarets already have major injury doubts for tomorrow's Lancashire derby against Bury at Gigg Lane.

The injury roll-call reads: Gary Parkinson (leg), Vince Overson (thigh), Steve Thompson (knee), David Eyres (flu), Peter Swan (hamstring), Gerry Harrison (leg), Damian Matthew (leg) and Liam Robinson (groin).

"It's a major headache and we are down to the bare bones," admitted manager Adrian Heath.

"We are working hard to get as many fit for tomorrow but I can't say at this stage who will be able to make it.

"Steve Thompson and Liam Robinson are definitely out as they are long term.

"It remains to be seen if we can get anyone else fit. I had to put 16-year-old Colin Carr-Lawton on the bench against Bristol. "I can't remember an injury situation as bad as this before."

Heath was even forced to include defender Chris Vinnicombe in his starting line-up as a last minute emergency replacement for David Eyres.

The Burnley number three telephoned the manager at 9am on Saturday morning to say he could not make the trip from his Merseyside home due to a severe bout of influenza.

That left Heath with no option but to include Vinnicombe. He had expected to begin his comeback in the B team against Everton at Gawthorpe-seven months after breaking his ankle at Wycombe Wanderers-but, instead, was plunged into the first team.

"Considering Chris came in against Bristol without even a game under his belt he did ever so well," said assistant manager John Ward. "It was a lot to ask of Chris but we had little option after hearing David was ruled out. He was very professional in the way he handled it. He coped extremely well." Heath revealed: "David Eyres was very ill and was not physically fit to come to the ground, never mind play in a game."

Heath suffered a further blow when big defender Vince Overson was ruled out of the frame with a thigh injury, picked up in training on Friday.

Heath kept the fresh injury to Overson under wraps for fear of alerting Bristol who travelled North the same day.

"Losing Vince was a massive blow because we wanted him to play against Bristol," added Heath.

"We don't think it's a bad injury, perhaps a week or two, but it is very frustrating."

The Turf Moor chief was bitterly disappointed with the 3-2 defeat-Burnley's second home league defeat of the campaign. Heath slammed Burnley's defending as the Clarets gifted Joe Jordan's men all three goals.

"I was very disappointed with the overall performance, particularly the defending," he added.

"We conceded three very poor goals. The first goal was a sky-high ball into the penalty box and the lad brought it down on his chest to score. For the second, we had three defenders in the box marking one. The goalscorer got a free header in.

"For the last one we allowed the biggest man on the field a free run and a header which led to the winner.

"We just can't afford to defend like that. We are giving ourselves mountains to climb. It is just not acceptable." Heath added: "It was strange really because we played some quite good football at times. We fought back from conceding an early goal to go 2-1 up, and we had played bright football. Then we just let things slip. We were second best for the last 20 minutes.

"The younger players did well but maybe one or two of the senior players did not contribute as much as they should have done."

PHIL Eastwood smashed a hat-trick as Burnley B overwhelmed Everton B 5-1 at Gawthorpe. David Henry was also on the mark with two goals. "It was a superb performance," said coach Alan Harper.

TICKETS will remain on sale at Turf Moor until 12.00 pm tomorrow for Tuesday's Division Two clash at Bury. Fans are reminded that they WILL be able to pay on the turnstiles at Gigg Lane.

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