There might soon be some good news for Stevenage on the injury front - but they will have to endure more trials and tribulations first.
Boro started the FA Cup with Guiseley with just one fit centre-half and only three fit defenders.
Long-term injuries to Dan Sweeney and Charlie Good were compounded by more short-term problems for Carl Piergianni and Luther Wildin, who pulled out of the warm-up against the Northern Premier League side.
And while the clash with Reading tomorrow (Saturday) and the Bristol Street Motors Trophy game with Gillingham on Tuesday may still too close for some, there is hope that after the international break that the outlook may be far rosier.
Certainly manager Alex Revell believes he is seeing "some signs" of that.
He said: "We've been really tested, to have eight or nine big players out of this squad has been a test.
"It was a difficult week with three games, and three big games in terms of the stature of the games.
"To lose those players has been really tough and obviously people had to step up. It felt quite a long week in terms of results, but I think if anyone has eight or nine starters out of their team at any level, we're seeing it with Man City at the moment where they've got players out and just lost three on the spin, it takes it out of you.
"The players that have been out for this longer period, hopefully we're starting to see some signs of them you know returning soon, not yet but hopefully in two to three weeks we'll start to see those guys start to train and start returning back to where we need them to be.
"Nathan Thompson has been in and out this week in training, but he's been out for a while and we also know that when he came in, the amount of games he played and the intensity of those games he played.
"He put in some incredible performances but we have to be really careful with these players when they're coming back.
"Yes, we need them because especially in the centre-back department, we need them to give us that physicality and get our solid unit back.
"But we also have to be really careful that we don't re-injure them coming back too soon.
"They all want to get back, they're extremely disappointed to be injured and they're frustrated.
"But they are doing everything they can to get back in the squad."
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