HARRY Kewell admits injuries to some of his frontmen are making his task of getting Latics heading in the right direction even harder.

A knock ruled George Blackwood out of the goalless draw with Southend at Boundary Park meaning he joined Zak Dearnley and Marcus Barnes on the sidelines.

Conor McAleny did return from injury off the bench in the second half but beyond that, Kewell had limited options as he looked to spark his side into life on another poor afternoon on home soil.

Harry Clarke was another name on the absentee list on Saturday but the Latics boss did not want to use excuses and praised the endeavour of Bobby Grant leading the line.

“It’s not great when you turn around and there’s no Dearnley, Blackwood or Barnes,” Kewell told The Oldham Times.

“They are three players that could make a real difference in a game but that’s how football is and we have to deal with it and we’re working hard to get them back.

“I think Bobby’s done fantastic, he’s working his socks off, he’s working hard even if I could do with fresh legs up the top.

“But we carry on. This is the great thing about football, you have to adjust. You can’t have everything served up to you on a silver platter, you’ve got to work hard for it and that’s what we’re doing, we’re trying.”

Kewell had another injury to contend with at full-time after Serhat Tasdemir was forced off with half an hour to play.

The Peterborough loanee has struggled to make an impact in his early outings and supporters’ displeasure with the January arrival on social media even brought a passionate defence from Posh owner Darragh MacAnthony on Twitter this week.

Kewell insists he has seen enough to believe the 20-year-old will come good in time.

“It’s very difficult coming in the January market and coming to a team with high tempo and work rate with the effort we put in,” he said.

“I see glimpses. I think he’s a talented player. I think there’s a lot inside him but we just need to dig that little bit deeper and find that.”

Top scorer McAleny’s return in Tasdemir’s place for the final half an hour means he will be pushing for a start at Port Vale on Tuesday night.

“Conor felt great, he just needs that little bit of sharpness,” Kewell said.

“He only had one training session so for him to come in and play 90 minutes I think was a big ask.”