WANDERERS are down to bare bones for their Vertu Trophy quarter-final at Wrexham tomorrow night as injuries and suspensions eat into Steven Schumacher’s squad.

Options could be limited to just 15 fit senior outfield players after the Whites lost both Aaron Collins and Kion Etete to injury before their dramatic game against Crawley.

Though George Thomason is eligible to play and will serve out the last game of his suspension at the weekend, Szabi Schon has picked up two bookings in the competition and is ruled out.

Kyle Dempsey, Ricardo Santos and Carlos Mendes Gomes are all injured.

Aaron Morley, Joel Randall and Alex Murphy are also cup-tied after featuring for Wycombe, Peterborough United and Newcastle United Under-21s earlier in the competition.

Wanderers submitted their squad list to the EFL last week with 21 senior outfield players on the list and they do have the option of calling up B Team talent such as Luke Matheson and Sam Inwood to boost numbers.

Schumacher explained that top scorer Collins picked up an injury late last week in training which leaves him highly unlikely to feature.

“He had a bang on his hip after running into Nathan Baxter in training,” he said. “It is in his oblique, and that can be really painful.

“He wasn't moving great on Friday, so he wasn't obviously available (for Crawley). And he still isn't moving brilliantly today, but he said it has settled down a lot.

“When he coughs or laughs, it is not as painful. But we are hoping it will just be a few days and it will settle down and he can get going again.

“We all know how important he is so we can't rush him if he's not feeling right. We will just wait and see how he is.”

New loan signing Etete was scheduled to be on the bench against Crawley but pulled out in the warm-up after feeling pain in his thigh.

“He said he tried to pass a ball and just felt his left thigh tighten up, so we don't know the extent of that,” Schumacher explained. “But we'll have to get him scanned because with muscle injuries we can’t really take any risks.”

Wanderers have been drawn to face Peterborough United at home if they manage to negotiate Wrexham in their first visit to the Racecourse Ground since sealing promotion there in May 1988.

And for Schumacher, who was Plymouth manager when Bolton beat Argyle 4-0 in the 2023 final, there is a special incentive to succeed.

“I'm desperate to get back to Wembley because they spoiled it for me last time I was there,” he smiled.

“I don’t mind how we win, 90 minutes, penalties, whatever. I just want to make sure we get through to the semi-finals.”

Schumacher took charge of his first home game on Saturday, which proved a rip-roaring affair with seven second-half goals.

And the new head coach was impressed by the noise generated by at 20,00-plus crowd which was there to welcome him.

“I thought the atmosphere was great,” he added. I was excited in the build-up, looking forward to the game, and it didn't disappoint.

“It has been a good day. I know there's elements of the game and the performance that we would do differently or would like to have done differently, but we've won it and we sent all our fans home happy, so that is all that matters.”