SAM Allardyce is flying back early from Wanderers' US tour to launch a desperate search for new recruits after having his squad ravaged by injury.

Dean Holdsworth (damaged shoulder ligaments) and Kevin Nolan (broken wrist) ended up in an Indiana hospital early today while Gareth Farrelly and trialist John Torrington were left nursing injuries - a painful price to pay for the team's first pre-season success, victory in their first appearance on American soil.

A comfortable 2-0 win against local side Indiana Blast was of little consequence as the Bolton boss, who saw his makeshift teams crash to three defeats on tour in Denmark, surveyed the latest damage and admitted: "The pre-season has turned into a nightmare."

At the team's Indianapolis base today Allardyce confirmed he was cutting short his stay to return to Bolton to scour the market for temporary cover for his depleted team - strikers being his main priority.

"Dean could be out for four to six weeks which means I'll have only one recognised striker, Bo Hansen for the start of the season," he explained.

"Michael Ricketts will be suspended for the first three games and with Mike Whitlow (suspended three games), Robbie Elliott (one game), Jimmy Phillips (injured) Ricardo Gardner (injured), Dean Holden (injured) and now Kevin Nolan out for at least six weeks, I'm going to have to try and get a couple of players in.

"And I need to be back in Bolton to do that. It's not business I can conduct over here so I will be flying back tomorrow with Kevin. He will have his wrist operated on when we get back."

Holdsworth and Nolan were taken by ambulance to the St Vincent's Medical Centre in Carmel, eight miles out of Indianapolis, after an ill-fated first half when Wanderers lost four of their starting line-up in a game which eventually saw 41-year-old assistant manager, Phil Brown, pressed into service as a second half substitute!

Torrington was first to go in the ninth minute when he pulled up sharply after tearing a hamstring, which has brought his trial to an end and cost him any chance of featuring in the US Under 23 squad for Sunday's game against Wanderers - a fixture which is essentially an Olympic trial.

Farrelly went next after jarring his knee in a collision then Holdsworth, who had given Wanderers a fourth minute lead, followed him onto the growing casualty list after falling heavily when he was pulled down by Blast keeper Chuck Browder for the 30th minute penalty, which he elected to take himself - despite obvious discomfort - and missed.

Co-striker Bo Hansen was more accurate when he doubled the lead in the 35th minute.

Allardyce was hoping tests on Holdsworth would only show bruising but there was no question that young Nolan, who had replaced Farrelly and had been on the field just seven minutes when he went down in severe pain, had broken his wrist.

"What looked like starting off as a nice game with a number of the team playing together for the first time and getting the early goal has ended up turning sour on us," the manager conceded.

"The performance was all right - there were one or two rusty areas but nothing of any real concern - but the severity of the injuries has cast a cloud over everything. I'd hoped to come through pre-season with no more injuries to worry about but that just wasn't to be."