SOUTHEND United centre-back Kacper Lopata is ‘touch and go’ for Tuesday night's clash at table-topping Notts County.

The defender has missed Blues’ last two games with a knee problem he sustained during the FA Trophy defeat to Roots Hall.

But a scan has shown Lopata has not sustained serious damage and Maher will making an assessment on the defender’s fitness before selecting his starting line-up at Meadow Lane.

“It’s nothing too serious but he will be touch and go for Tuesday night.” said Maher.

“But the good news is it’s not as bad as we thought it might have been.”

Fellow defender Nathan Ralph is also a doubt after having to come off at half-time of Saturday’s 1-0 win against Gateshead with a hamstring injury.

And striker Harry Cardwell could also miss out with the hamstring problem he picked up during the warm up at the weekend.

“There’s doubts over those two in the hamstring area,” said Maher.

“They were in today and will be assessed so we will see how they are.”

Louis Lomas replaced Ralph against Gateshead and could make his first league start since September tonight.

But, at the other end of the field, striker Rhys Murphy will be out with a thigh injury while Chris Wreh is again expected to be absent with a knee problem despite resuming light training.

“Chris was back on the grass today doing a bit of training," said Maher.

"But Murph has yet to be on the grass so it’s still a little bit off for him."

Goalkeepers Steve Arnold and Collin Andeng Ndi are still working their way back to full fitness.

And Maher will looking to arrange a behind closed doors clash for them to step up their return to action.

"We’ll try and arrange a practise game as soon as possible," said Maher.

"Obviously it’s difficult with the amount of games we’ve had coming up but we’re looking at it and seeing when we can get a game in."

Arnold has been out since mid-August with a hip problem while Andeng Ndi has not played since November due to a hamstring issue.