BLACKBURN Rovers Gary Bowyer is attempting to bolster his injury-hit and battle-weary squad ahead of Saturday’s clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.

Bowyer was without eight first-team players for Tuesday’s 3-2 home loss to Brentford.

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And such were the paucity of options available to him he was forced to name Connor Mahoney on the bench just 24 hours after the 18-year-old had played 90 minutes for the club’s U21s team.

And Bowyer’s selection headaches are unlikely to have eased in time for the visit of the travel-sick Seagulls to Ewood Park.

Shane Duffy, Jason Lowe and Doneil Henry will not play again this season and, while Grant Hanley, David Dunn and Josh King are making progress in their recoveries, they will not be fit to face a Brighton side who have not away from home since January 10.

Neither will Craig Conway, who once had a spell on loan with the Seagulls, and Markus Olsson remains a doubt after Bowyer revealed he was not close to returning against Brentford.

And to make matters worse Ben Marshall came off with a nasty gash on his calf in a defeat that has left Rovers 11 points behind the play-off places.

Bowyer confirmed after the match that he is attempting to make at least one signing before the emergency window closes a week today.

He said: “We’ve been working very hard on it since Saturday to try and bring some help and support for the lads.

“But, you know, if nobody has arrived by Saturday we’ll go again and the ones that are playing will give it a right good go.”

Defender Henry’s return to West Ham United means Bowyer can sign two players, either on loan or on free transfers, under the terms of the club’s Financial Fair Play embargo.

Henry has gone back to the Hammers for treatment after he came off in Saturday’s 3-1 success at Charlton Athletic.

Winger Conway also sustained a hamstring injury at the Valley.

But he has a chance of being fit for Rovers’ first game back after the international break, the Roses showdown with Leeds United at Elland Road on Easter Saturday.

Bowyer said: “It’s a sad blow to lose Doneil.

“First of all for the lad himself and secondly for ourselves and West Ham.

“He’s out for the season and that’s a massive blow, as it is to lose Craig.

“He’s out for a couple of weeks but there’s no need to put a timeframe on it and put him under pressure.

“He’s been outstanding for us and so has Doneil.”

Rovers’ loss to Brentford ended their three-match winning league run and was their first defeat in six games in all competitions.

And Bowyer said: “We’ll dust ourselves down and go again on Saturday and try and finish this period off as well as we possibly can.

“We won our last three leading into the Brentford game and we have got to make sure we recover.

“If we can finish with a return of four wins out of our last five games we’ll have done very well.”

Rovers captain Hanley, who has been sidelined since the end of last month, admits his leg injury is taking long to heal than he would have liked.

Hanley said: “It’s dragged on and not settled down as quickly as I hoped it would but that’s football.

“I’ll just get myself fit and come back stronger.”