COLIN Todd is ready to dip into the Burnden Park transfer kitty to deal with a pile-up of injury and suspension problems.

Wanderers will have their promotion credentials tested to the limit in the coming weeks with their squad depleted by the loss of key players.

The manager has been scouting for new signings for some weeks but now he will step up his search, home and abroad, in a bid to keep his team ahead of the field in the race for the Premiership.

The Burnden heroes paid a high price for last night's dramatic 2-1 victory over Reading.

They'd already lost goal ace Nathan Blake with an ankle injury in the morning training session and skipper Gudni Bergsson added to the casualties when he limped out with a groin strain after just 18 minutes.

Worse was to come with Keith Branagan sent off on 62 minutes and five minutes later Alan Thompson, outstanding in midfield this season, joined him on the suspension list when his sixth booking in league games sent him over the 21-point limit. Both players will serve three-match bans, missing tough away games at Birmingham and Oxford and the crunch home clash with Crystal Palace. Wanderers hope Blake will be fit to face Huddersfield at Burnden on Saturday but they face an anxious wait to see whether Bergsson's is a long-term problem.

Todd has no fears on the goalkeeping front. Gavin Ward will be promoted to first choice in place of Branagan. But he knows his outfield options will be limited as the season reaches a critical phase and he has indicated that new signings are now his priority.

John McGinlay, star of the show with his goalscoring and goalkeeping heroics, summed up the problems when he admitted: "We have been a bit unlucky.

"From what we've been saying all along is a big squad, we could soon be down to the bare bones. "With Mixu Paatelainen already out and Blakey pulling out when he got that knock in training, it left just me and Scott Taylor up front. If anything had happened to one of us we'd have been in trouble.

"After what happened last night it's obvious the boss will be looking at bringing players in."

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