You have to feel some sympathy for Tony Mowbray. Not only does he lose Martin Albrechtsen for six weeks but Kevin Phillips is also ruled out for x-number of weeks, maybe even months, with a horrible knee injury (that picture of his contorted face on the back page of Thursday night's Black Country Mail was quite unnerving).
Throw in Craig Beattie's calf strain along with Mowbray's FA charge for 'improper conduct and using abusive and insulting words' to referee Nigel Miller and, all in all, it's not been a vintage week for our Tone.
However, the future is bright, the future is orange. Or even white and red. Or even white, red and blue.
Dutch youngster Sherjill MacDonald, Pole Bartek Slusarski and Roman Bednar of the Czech Republic have scored 17 goals between them in the last half a dozen or so reserve games.
Bednar has hit six in three second-string games, MacDonald six in six and Slusarski got five in six (after also scoring one earlier in the campaign)
Mowbray is simply spoilt for choice.
And let's not forget John Hartson, fresh from his shortened loan spell at Norwich...
No, surely not?