Ludlow Town hit by major injury blow as Ryan Clarke faces lay-off
Boss Chris Waldron is "wary" of Ludlow Town being dragged into a relegation fight as they face a lengthy spell without their leading marksman.
The Knights made it four Hellenic League Division One matches without a win after a 2-0 defeat to league leaders FC Stratford at Bromfield Road last Saturday.
In a huge blow, Ludlow will be without joint leading goalscorer Ryan Clarke for the trip to strugglers Clanfield 85 and potentially for a lengthy period due to a hamstring injury.
Boss Waldron said: "We have played some top teams lately, we have had a tough run.
"But we do need to start winning some games before we start get dragged down towards the bottom.
"It is something that we are wary of, we have away games against teams around us which we have discussed and said we need to start picking up some wins in.
"It seems to be every week that we are picking up a knock. Our top scorer and main goal threat Ryan Clarke pulled his hamstring last Saturday.
"He is going to be out for possibly most of the season, depending on how it's gone, but around six weeks probably. He is a hard one to replace."
The Ludlow boss admits he is unlikely to bring in a replacement, instead relying on the options already within his squad.
He added: "Unfortunately we have got to work with what we have got because of where we are. It is the same problem that Ludlow has had for a couple of years, attracting players with no money to travel to Ludlow.
"But, we are confident in the lads we have got and we will just go from there."
Ludlow sit 10th in the standings after conceding twice within five minutes of the restart to fall to the table-toppers. However, Waldron is not too downbeat about the defeat.
"It was always going to be tough on Saturday, Stratford are the best team in the league, they are top for a reason," he continued.
"We didn't play badly, Stratford were just a bit better than us unfortunately."
