Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce has lifted the lid on a "difficult" afternoon after losing FIVE players to injuries in one game.
The Magpies ended the game with 10 men after Jetro Willems (groin), Jonjo Shelvey (hamstring), Javier Manquillo (hamstring) and Fabian Schar (hamstring) all suffered muscle problems.
And Bruce's woes were compounded as DeAndre Yedlin left the ground with his arm in a sling after suffering a suspected broken hand.
Bruce said afterwards: "Three of them are hamstring injuries, the other [Willems] is a groin.
"They'll get scanned tomorrow and we'll find out the severity.
"I said it a month ago, to play four games in ten days is ludicrous.
"I didn't have the bodies to change because we had four or five missing anyway.
"It's been difficult but we don't make excuses - it is what it is.
"You never want to make three subs before half-time, then of course Schär goes down after a minute so any chance we have in the game has disappeared.
"It was a difficult afternoon all round." Bruce said he couldn't believe his bad luck and went on: "We've lost four players in 15 minutes.
"It could have been five because we think [DeAndre] Yedlin has broken his hand.
"In all the years I've been involved I don't think I've known a 15 minutes like that."
