Ray Jones, the Devonshire Colts coach, is urging his players to use the injuries of key players Quinton Jones and Jomei Bean-Lindo as motivation for the remainder of the season as they try to avoid relegation.

Colts, bottom of the table, slipped further behind the teams above them when they were beaten 4-1 by Boulevard on Sunday.

A further blow for Colts was the loss of talented midfielder Bean-Lindo to a serious knee injury in the second half just after they scored their consolation goal.

Addressing his players afterwards, Jones urged them to dig deep for their two team-mates who are out for the rest of the season.

Jones suffered a broken leg against X-Roads in the FA Cup three weeks ago and now the loss of Bean-Lindo is another major loss to the team whose next three matches are against top-four teams PHC Zebras, Robin Hood and Devonshire Cougars.

The severity of Bean-Lindo’s injury should be known tomorrow when he has a MRI.

He was taken to hospital but is now at home recuperating. The team battled on without their midfielder but could not reduce the three-goal deficit.

“I saw a lot of character in the team in the second half and that’s all I’m asking,” Jones said. “Now I want them to play with some pride, show some character and fight to the end. In the second half I thought they did, quite frankly.

“Unfortunately the gap was too large and psychologically the loss of Jomei, who is a key player for us, might have had an impact as well. We’ll try to find things to motivate the players. We’ve had injuries before but if you’re at home in pain it would be nice to have somebody say, ‘your team got some points today’.

“Hopefully the players take that to heart and keep battling on and maybe some things start bouncing our way. Luck has a part to play in it but when things are going your way you have to make your own luck. That’s where we’re at now, but we’re not giving up.”

Ian Coke capitalised on the absence of Colts’ first-choice goalkeeper, Gregory Rose, scoring all four Boulevard goals before Colts pulled one back early in the second half through Lozendro Symonds, just two minutes before the injury to Bean-Lindo.

“Our goalkeeper had to go away so we had to throw a 16-year-old [Lejuan Matthews] in goal today and he was a bit nervous,’ Jones said. “Of the four goals maybe two of them were routine [saves] but I think it had to do with him making his debut. Hopefully he just grows from it.”

The loss was Colts’ tenth in 12 games and leaves them five points adrift at the bottom. Flanagan’s Onions occupy the other relegation spot after Dandy Town’s 3-0 home win over Somerset Trojans.