NIGEL Clough says that the long season is taking its toll on his team as injuries continued to bite on Saturday in the 0-0 draw with Bristol City.
The Brewers are already without John Brayford (calf) and Ben Turner (calf) and saw both Lucas Akins (hamstring) and Liam Boyce (ankle) limp off on Saturday.
In addition, Jacob Davenport and Martin Samuelsen have been struggling with illness.
Nigel Clough said: "Tom Flanagan has been out three weeks and he's not back up to 100 per cent yet either. Damien has only just come back and was injured on Tuesday. Hope Akpan has missed a week's training with his ankle injury. We are patching them up and getting them out there.
"It comes down to the effort we have to put in each game, just to compete. If you add the psychological element when you are not winning as well and it's a hard slog for the players.
"But we have been saying for a few weeks that despite all that we are not playing like a team who are bereft of confidence, with a terrible home record.
"After losing on Tuesday night, we could have gone out there and hidden on Saturday - but we didn't. We tried to score and win the game.
"We are an honest team, trying to play football in a league we don't have any right to be in. But we are fighting, scrapping and giving it everything."