Venables' Uefa Cup hopes hit by injuries

The Leeds manager, Terry Venables, faces a defensive crisis as his side try to avoid a quick exit in this season's Uefa Cup.

Venables is without two centre-backs, Jonathan Woodgate and Lucas Radebe, through injury for tomorrow's Uefa Cup first round, second leg in Ukraine against Metalurg Zaporizhya. Leeds hold a 1-0 advantage from the first leg.

Woodgate is still suffering from a hamstring problem, which led to him missing Saturday's 4-1 humiliation by the champions, Arsenal, at Elland Road. Radebe did play in that game, but left the ground on crutches because of swelling on his knee. The captain, Dominic Matteo, will travel to Ukraine, but continues to be troubled by his own knee injury which recently led to a fortnight's lay-off.

Such are Venables' problems, that the former England coach has had to call the 18-year-old Matthew Kilgallon into the 20-man squad. It is understood Venables has been impressed with the York-born youngster's displays in the reserves.

Nine days ago Venables gave the attacking midfielder Jamie McMaster his debut in a 1-0 defeat at Blackburn, and he showed enough promise in 24 minutes of action to leave Venables singing his praises. Whether Kilgallon plays remains to be seen, but with finances tight, and the transfer window not reopening until January, Venables has to use whatever is at his disposal.

"It's important if you spend money on an academy, and some of them in the Premier League are fantastic now, that you have to get a return on your financial investment to make it worthwhile," Venables said.

"Everyone needs to get players through the youth team, but the fact is the players are finding it more difficult now than ever because the competition is coming from all around the world," he added. "When I played you had competition but it was within a smaller area than it is now. It wasn't as intense. The best players in the world are coming to this country now and they [the youngsters] have to see them off which isn't easy."

Kilgallon is likely to have to settle for a place on the bench for even if Matteo does not play then Venables is likely to give Michael Duberry his first start for seven months alongside Danny Mills, with Gary Kelly and Ian Harte at full-back.

Sheffield Wednesday have dismissed suggestions that the Leeds midfielders David Batty and Stephen McPhail are set to move to Hillsborough. Batty has been out of favour since Venables' arrival, though McPhail has recently forced his way back into the first-team squad. The Owls manager, Terry Yorath, admitted that the club had spoken to Batty but said that the 33-year-old former England international would not be moving to Wednesday.