LATICS boss Richie Wellens says he is not to blame for the lack of defensive cover that threatens to undermine his side’s battle against relegation.

Anthony Gerrard is the latest defender to be struck down by injury, limping off with a pulled calf muscle in last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Wimbledon.

The centre-back missed Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat to Southend that saw Oldham fall into the League One relegation zone with two matches of the season remaining.

Gerrard is not expected to be available for tomorrow’s visit of Doncaster or the final game of the season at Northampton next weekend.

He joins fellow central defender Kean Bryan and full-backs Cameron Dummigan and Wilfried Moimbe on the sidelines.

As a result, Wellens was forced to field an inexperienced back four against the Shrimpers that included a centre-back pairing of George Edmundson, aged 20, and Tom Hamer, 18.

Questions have been asked about the decision to release seasoned campaigner Peter Clarke in January, allowing the centre-back to join Bury.

But the Oldham manager said circumstances dictated the decision.

“People might ask ‘why did you let Peter Clarke go to Bury?’. We let Peter Clarke go to Bury because we had a registration embargo, so it was one in, one out," he said.

“We couldn’t sign Kean Bryan unless we let a centre-half go – so would you have rather had Kean Bryan or Peter Clarke?”

Wellens also cited the poor standard of Oldham’s training facilities as a contributing factor to his side’s injury problems.

“It’s not ideal because you never expect as many injuries as we have had – we have had a terrible amount of injuries," he said.

“It only goes to show that if we train on our training ground week in, week out, day in, day out, we are going to pick up a lot more injuries than the clubs that have got a good training ground.”