Tom Youngs must remain on the injury list for up to a fortnight after it was confirmed that he tore a hamstring at Luton last Tuesday.

It is another big blow for the team as 20-year-old Youngs has scored seven goals since the beginning of February and five in his last four games. More importantly the young forward has enjoyed that rich vein of form from an unfamiliar midfield position, where goals have been hard to come by this season.

Coupled with Trevor Benjamin's suspension for the weekend's game at Oldham, it leaves Roy McFarland with only John Taylor and barely-tried strikers Nathan Lamey and Zema Abbey as options in attack. John Hansen has played as a striker in Denmark so he might come in the reckoning but he has been increasingly effective on the left wing.

"It leaves us short," the United manager told the Cambridge Evening News, "but I can only repeat what I've said after all the other injuries; we've just got to roll up our sleeves and get on with it. You don't get any points for feeling sorry for yourself. We should be getting a couple of the injured players back soon, although they are not strikers. Neil Mustoe and Clive Wilson will be back in training this week.

"We climbed a couple of places out of the bottom four on Saturday, which will boost confidence, although it was probably one of our worst displays of the season and everybody in the squad is aware of that."

Youngs joins Andy Duncan, Alex Russell, Michael Kyd and Shaun Marshall on the list of first team absentees.