LITTLETON boss Tyrone Henderson hopes ex-West Brom youngster Ben Cassidy could be back from a broken ankle sooner than expected.

The 17-year-old winger suffered the injury in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Black Country Rangers prompting fears his campaign could be over but Henderson has since received some encouraging news.

“I don’t think it is as bad as we first feared, he has been given a boot. It is not a clean break but on the outside of his ankle,” said the Five Acres gaffer.

“After six to eight weeks he is going to have it looked at and we hope he might be back after Christmas.

“He came in from Alvechurch and it was such a shame because he had just started to kick on, he is a good kid with a great attitude as well as being a good player.

“We will miss him but fingers crossed he can get back sooner than we first thought."

Myles Brooks was also lost to concussion for two weeks in what Henderson called “a bad day at the office” having led going into the final five minutes.

That was followed by a Jekyll and Hyde display to lose 4-1 at Bewdley Town in the Worcestershire Senior Cup on Tuesday.

Kamikaze defending saw Bewdley lead 4-0 at the break with Dylan Hart and Luke Sidaway each bagging a brace.

Jack Pearlman got one back four minutes after the restart with Dean Fisher then denied a certain penalty, Keith Rostill hitting the post and Pearlman the crossbar in a dominant second-half show.

“That’s our season in a nutshell and we are struggling to put our finger on it,” sighed Henderson.

“We are giving away soft goals, teams don’t have to work hard for them.

“We changed formation and personnel and then to play like we did against a good Bewdley side in the second half, it frustrates you. It was the same on Saturday.

“For me it is a mental issue that has been there all season, we have been 2-1 up with five minutes to go in the past two home games and we have drawn one and lost the other. With the experience we have we should be doing better.

“We have to work with what we have and keep going, I’d like to add to the squad because we have lost two to injury but why would you join us when we are playing like we are at the moment?”