Strikers Stephen Astwood and Lloyd Holder have both been ruled out of Bermuda Hogges' weekend clash with Crystal Palace Baltimore in Baltimore.

Hogges coach Kyle Lightbourne revealed yesterday that the in-form Astwood would miss his team's next assignment through injury while Holder can't make the trip to the US because of personal commitments.

Lightbourne and team boss Shaun Goater have now been included in the Hogges roster for tomorrow's clash on the artificial surface at the Annapolis Sports Complex, with striker Raymond Beach a leading candidate to start in the absence of Astwood and Holder.

Earlier this week Astwood passed a fitness test and started in the Hogges' hard-fought 2-2 draw with Western Mass Pioneers at the National Sports Centre (NSC). The towering forward, however, limped off injured in the second-half of the match after aggravating a hamstring injury sustained the week before against Baltimore at the NSC.

"Stevie damaged his hamstring and Lloyd is out through personal commitments and so they won't be travelling with us. So this now means Shaun and myself will be included in the team. We may not start, but we'll certainly be on the roster," Lightbourne told The Royal Gazette.

Should the need arise, Goater could find himself in a starting role with Lightbourne more likely to leap off the bench as a substitute.

Hogges and Palace have already clashed twice this season, the latter winning 2-1 on each occasion. But after demonstrating tremendous character to grab a share of the spoils during Tuesday's draw with the Pioneers, Lightbourne is confident the local outfit can rise to meet tomorrow night's challenge in Baltimore.

"We've been playing pretty good football lately and look forward to Saturday's match," he said.

"We have already played against them twice and done fairly well despite not getting the results we were looking for.

"But we are going to keep trying and the guys are steadily progressing."