Heath have been left '˜crippled' by injury woes
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Up to six of the Bears’ normal starting line-up were missing from their disappointing defeat at Chichester City on Tuesday night.
Painter, although he acknowledged every side struggles with selection during the season, admitted it had come at the worst possible time as they looked to improve last year’s ninth-placed finish.
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Hide AdHe said: “Our biggest problem at the moment is that we are crippled with injuries. We went down to Chichester without a midfielder in the squad. I normally play three in midfield and had to play a centre-forward in there and a right-back. We are just crippled with injuries and it’s key players.
“Andy Howard and Andy Waddingham dropped out, I have no Rod Godfrey, Piers McDermott, Jack Lyons or Shaun Findlay.
“The list is endless and I have other having to playing through injuries - Scott Weller is playing on one leg.
“Every side gets them, we just at the moment we are not really having a good run of luck. After the Horsham and Newhaven game we were meant to be on a high and on an up, but it hasn’t worked out like that.
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Hide Ad“We have not had our best team out on the pitch, our best 11 out of the squad, this season.”
City took the lead on 31 minutes as Heath over played from the back after a throw out from Michael Chester.
Stuart Chester then tried to play the ball up the line to Jamie Robinson, who got robbed of the ball and after a missed Martyn Flack clearance, the in-form Jimmy Wild finished well.
Dan Hegarty added a second on 53 minutes as he lobbed over Michael Chester as he was forced to rush out of his box to head clear after some indecisive defending.
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Hide AdTim Martin was then sent off after being shown a second booking which Painter was left less than happy with, before Jamie Horncastle added a third with 12 minutes left.
Heath travel to Hailsham Town on Saturday and then host Loxwood on Tuesday night.
Heath: M.Chester, Wicking, S.Chester, D.Robinson, J.Robinson, Ozga (Meech 45), Flack, Martin, Holmes (Legrange 45), Weller (Brown 70), Andrade.
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