WANDERERS’ dismal defeat at Derby County was compounded with the loss of three more senior players.

Neil Lennon’s side face Fulham at the Macron Stadium tomorrow night without central defenders Matt Mills and David Wheater, plus midfielder Liam Trotter.

Mills sat out the 4-1 defeat on Saturday with a knee injury which could sideline him for a fortnight, while Wheater and Trotter were brought off at half time with a dead leg and thigh strain, respectively.

None of the trio are expected to recover in time to play against Fulham and their absence did little to improve the mood of manager Lennon, who is already missing the services of regulars Emile Heskey, Craig Davies, Adam Bogdan, Darren Pratley, Mark Davies and Max Clayton, was not using his long list of absentees as an excuse for the a performance he branded “pathetic” at the iPro Stadium.

“We can’t hide behind that,” he told The Bolton News. “We lost Mills, we lost Danns, we lost Wheater, we lost Trotter, we lost Pratley – they are good players but the rest have to step up and make a mark.

“I can’t keep saying there are players missing – it’s up to the players who are here to do their job, a lot, lot better.”

Neil Danns will return from suspension for the Fulham clash but Lennon admits he is starting to worry about the defensive resolve of his side, who have shipped 10 goals in their last three league outings.

“It’s a concern. “We’ve gone from being hard to beat to being easy to beat at the moment. We need to get some players back and be more resolute defensively because what I saw there (at Derby) was not good enough by a long chalk, not even close.”

Lennon could find little to draw positives from the 4-1 defeat, save for a goal on debut for new signing Filip Twardzik.

Tom Ince and Jeff Hendrick scored two apiece for the Rams, who stay level on points with Bournemouth at the top of the table.

“I can’t really take anything from it,” Lennon fumed. “I’m not happy at all.

“Twardzik got a goal on his debut, we got a few players in and Bannan did okay to be fair to him. But not really, no.

“The good thing is we’ve got a game on Tuesday against Fulham to get ourselves back in the mix again.”