BRIAN Little has urged his Tranmere players to finish the job Simon Haworth started when they meet Wanderers in Tuesday night's FA Cup replay.
Haworth, the former Wigan striker who stole the show with his performance against Wanderers at Prenton Park and scored the goal that threatened a third round upset, suffered a badly broken leg in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Brentford and faces a lengthy lay-off.
Little admits the injury was a severe psychological blow to Haworth's team-mates but believes it could act as a spur for them to pull out the stops to secure a trip to Luton in the fourth round on Saturday week.
"It's often said that you go out and do it for someone else," the Rovers boss said. "When you've got a team-mate who's lying there and can't really do an awful lot for you, you think you have to do a little bit for him.
"It's bound to be on everyone's minds when they take to the field and, if we can win a few games and get ourselves in a position of satisfaction in the league and do reasonably well in the cup, then a lot of the lads will feel they are doing their little bit to help Simon."
Rovers not only lost their main strike threat when Haworth was stretchered off at Griffin Park but also a popular member of the squad, and Little confirmed that the players had been shaken by the injury.
"Losing a player at any stage is a blow," he said, "but losing a player to a bad injury does knock you back a bit. During the last 15 minutes on Saturday I was very concerned about the players and whether they would be able to focus on the game. They did pretty well to get through the game.
"Simon is a very popular player in the dressing room and it did upset us all because when you see an injury like that you can't help but let it upset you.
"But it's happened now and all we can do is give him our best wishes and tell him that we'll do everything we can to help him get through this and get over his injury."
Little has received some good news on the fitness front. Striker Iain Hume has been passed fit after suffering a blow to the head in the Brentford game. Defender Ian Sharps is doubtful with a hamstring injury but Ryan Taylor is back in the squad following a one-match suspension.
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