Halstead Town manager Mark Benterman said he would have some thinking to do if his injury concerns eased ahead of their game against AFC Sudbury Reserves tomorrow.

The Humbugs headed into their Thurlow Nunn League division one clash at fourth-placed Swaffham Town last weekend with 14 first-team players either injured or unavailable.

So for their patched-up side to take a point and only be denied a victory by an equaliser deep into stoppage-time at the end of the game was a great achievement.

Benterman said he was proud of those who rose to the challenge and said he would have some selection dilemmas if players return from their injuries in time to face AFC Sudbury.

He said: “One or two may be back for the Sudbury game, but to be honest, I’m not sure I can change that side that played at Swaffham.

“We’ll see who is available and I hope to get a few back, but it will be a tough call because they did so well at Swaffham.

“What we have to make sure now is that we kick on from it – whoever plays.

“We know what we will get from Sudbury and I expect them to put in three or four first-team players, but we have to be ready for whatever they do put out.”

AFC Sudbury head to Rosemary Lane tomorrow (kick-off 3pm) with the hosts looking to avenge a 2-0 defeat they suffered against their local rivals in the Thurlow Nunn League Cup last month.

However, Benterman feels gaining three valuable points in their promotion bid should be their main motivation rather than getting one over on their rivals.

He added: “I don’t really look at it as us owing them one for the cup game.

“It’s just three points that are at stake.

“I know there is the local derby element, but I’ll just say to our lads that they mustn’t play the occasion because you can get caught up in it.

“The point we took at Swaffham has kept us in the mix and we now need to keep going by backing that up with a good performance against Sudbury.”