DAVID CUFFLEY Striker Chris Brown has joined City's casualty list ahead of Tuesday's crucial Championship match at Luton. Brown was replaced by Lee Croft at half-time in Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to Coventry because of hamstring and knee trouble, but manager Peter Grant admitted his £325,000 signing would not have played at all but for injuries to Dion Dublin (calf strain) and Peter Thorne (thigh strain).

DAVID CUFFLEY

Striker Chris Brown has joined City's casualty list ahead of Tuesday's crucial Championship match at Luton.

Brown was replaced by Lee Croft at half-time in Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to Coventry because of hamstring and knee trouble, but manager Peter Grant admitted his £325,000 signing would not have played at all but for injuries to Dion Dublin (calf strain) and Peter Thorne (thigh strain).

And the City boss suffered more bad news when he revealed that Darren Huckerby was not training because of a kick to his calf, suffered during the incident that saw him booked for diving.

Said Grant: “It's the first time I've never selected the team until one o'clock on the day because we had boys struggling. We ended up picking a team which we felt was the fittest we had available rather than the team which we'd actually pick for the game.

“I think you could see that with the performance in the first half because we always like to be prepared, doing our work Thursday or Friday but we just never had the bodies available.

“You could see that with young Chris Brown, great credit to him. He was desperate to play in the game because he knew Dion wasn't available but he's not done himself justice in the respect that his injury's probably going to keep him out for a couple of weeks.

“Lee Croft had pushed himself to the wire on Tuesday when he shouldn't have played. Chris Brown played on Tuesday when he shouldn't have played and they both wanted to go again today but I just couldn't take the chance of playing the two of them.”

Brown, who Grant revealed had not trained before the Chelsea or Preston games, looks a certain non-starter for Tuesday night as do Dublin and Thorne.

“There's only about two of them in the real dressing room,” said Grant after the game. “The rest are in the physio's room.”

He added: “I think in the first half it looked as if we hadn't worked on anything. I just showed people on the blackboard what we were looking to do. But if we played on the blackboard, I'd never lose.

“The one thing I cannot fault any of these guys for is their effort, their commitment and their desire to do well. Their lack of understanding sometimes lets them down but not their spirit and determination.

“I thought we'd have been dead on our legs in that period because of the personnel we had available but we showed tremendous spirit and it could end up being that massive point that you're looking for.”

Asked about the home crowd voicing their frustration during the second half, Grant said: “I understand because it's a home game and you're not winning. But sometimes open your eyes and see what you've got available.”

Grant is also unable to recall Ryan Jarvis - scorer of five goals in two games while at Leyton Orient - until his month's loan is up.