STUDLEY boss Keith Draper declared their 1-0 Birmingham Midweek Floodlit Cup win over Alvechurch Reserves as a complete disaster!

The Midland League Division One frontrunners suffered a total of five injuries from the contest, the worst of which saw prolific marksman Gareth Evans stretchered off with an achilles injury that could rule him out for up to three months.

To make matters worse, Josh Westwood and Chris Cowley both picked up injuries while striker Karl King fractured a rib.

Just to add insult to injury, substitute Lewis Clarke came on as a substitute after being out with a heel problem and promptly aggravated the same injury with his first challenge of the game.

Draper couldn't hide the gravity of the injuries, especially to Evans and claimed: "Gaz is a key player for us and played a big part in helping us avoid relegation last season.

"He went in for a challenge with Alvechurch's goalkeeper and the pair of them collided. Gaz could have pulled out of it, but he's not that type of player.

"But to have five players injured in the same game is quite something.

"As a result of Gaz likely to be out for sometime, I've signed striker Billy Garvey from Redditch Borough.

"He was on our radar in the summer, but I'd already got Gaz, Liam Fullerton and Andy Nicol at the time, but it just shows how quickly things can change in football.

"Billy has attracted a great deal of interest and was set to sign for Pershore Town but we moved for him at the last minute after realizing how long Gaz would be out for.

"Billy will come straight into the side for Saturday's trip to bottom of the table Coventry Alvis which is a must win game for us as we've got some really tough fixtures coming up.

"But we've already accumulated more points than we did throughout all of last season".

Chris Cowley supplied the only goal in the victory over Alvechurch Reserves in a manner which astonished everyone as it was a headed goal.

Draper revealed: "I can't believe Chris used his head to score - it meant messing up his hairstyle.

"He gels his hair before every game and then goes and checks it again at half time to make sure there's not a hair out of place."