Fleetwood Town couldn't have done anything to prevent their run of injuries

Town have a host of players currently out injured, including Brad Halliday and Darnell Johnson who are both out for the season.

Most of the injuries have been contact-related, meaning little could have been done to prevent them.

Nevertheless, Grayson said: “We can’t use them as excuses but it has been really tough this season because of injuries and we will have people missing this weekend from injuries that have been picked up in the last couple of games.

“It has been tough, because we have a small squad – and they are not little injuries. These are big injuries, major issues.

“There has been a snapped Achilles, a cruciate, (Harrison) Holgate out for 10-12 weeks with an Achilles injury, Shayden Morris missed eight weeks with a fractured foot which was a freak injury in training.

“If we were getting muscle-related injuries all the time we would be looking at ourselves, the sports science department and everybody who is connected to get something right.

“These are freak injuries, it’s so difficult to deal with but you can’t do anything about it.

“We’ve just got to get on with it and turn the negatives into positives that someone else is going to get a chance – but it is testing our whole squad at the moment.”

Defender James Hill will miss tomorrow’s game with Morecambe at Highbury, having recently left the England U21 camp with injury.

Grayson’s former Blackburn Rovers team-mate, Lee Carsley, is the Young Lions boss and reportedly confirmed the extent of Hill’s problem.

Grayson was unimpressed, saying: “I think Lee Carsley put it out there he’s going to be out for a few weeks.

“I don’t want to give too much information away but Carsley has thrown me a little bit under the bus, but I will leave it at that – he will be out for a few weeks, I won’t specify how many weeks.

“We try to keep things under wraps here. Other managers are quite open in what they say but that’s not something I give away too much information with.

“It’s none of anyone’s business and other managers may change their system, and it could potentially lead to them getting an advantage over us.

“If anybody wants to give me that sort of info in the future, I would be more than happy to take it – but they won’t be getting it from me.”

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