STOURBRIDGE will have to continue their promotion push without the help of star striker Luke Benbow.

The league's leading marksman has aggravated a broken hand and will be missing for the next month, including this Saturday's crucial clash against leaders Blyth Spartans.

Benbow is the latest Glassboy to be hit by injury following the loss of defender Jack Duggan and wingers Chris Lait and Matt Dodd.

The departures of Kristian Green, Dan Scarr, Junior Smikle and Conor Gater have further weakened Stour since the turn of the year.

Hackett thinks the disruption played a part as his side lost 2-1 at play-off chasing Grantham Town last Saturday.

Jake Heath netted a late consolation for Stour after they had found themselves two goals behind in the second half.

He said: "I think we are under pressure because we had a few new faces in the side and had to get used to that.

"It was a good first half and we maybe had the better chances but they were better in the second half and deserved the win."

Stour signed defenders Kieren Westwood and Richard Sho-Silva to help boost their options in defence but Sho-Silva had to come off against Grantham after just half an hour due to illness.

He should be able to play a part this weekend but the latest losses do mean Hackett is looking to bring in two new signings before Saturday.

He said: "Losing Luke Benbow is a big blow and it means we will be looking to bring someone in. He has had the injury for a while now but has aggravated it "Hopefully we can get one or two deals done soon. We need to pep the squad up and that will happen.

"We won't dwell on the injury situation now. Sometimes in adversity good things happen and people step forward."

Hackett admits the Glassboys need to beat Blyth this Saturday (3pm kick-off) if they want to keep their automatic promotion chances alive.

"There is no doubt about it, we need to get a good result if we want to keep the pressure on," he said.

"They will take some catching now but we just need to do ourselves a favour if possible. Either way we will be looking to finish as strong as possible."

Lait is still be two weeks from a return but Dodd will undergo a late fitness test on Saturday. Defender Chris Knight is also absent this week.