Neil Redfearn confirmed Sam Byram was rested for Tuesday night’s defeat away to Brighton due to a knee injury, while Steve Morison was forced off with a groin strain.

After being ever-present in all of United’s previous Championship outings in 2015, Byram missed the Amex Stadium trip and was replaced in the starting line-up by Casper Sloth due to a problem with his knee.

Redfearn’s side fell to a 2-0 defeat, ending a three-game winning streak, and the head coach admitted Byram’s absence was a big loss to his team.

“You’re going to miss good players,” said the head coach. “He’s a top quality young player.

“What he does is give you that end product and the legs to get past the frontmen. He’s got the legs to get past people in the box and he creates things.

“You’re going to miss people like Sam Byram. The four young players that have played this season have been absolutely outstanding.

“As soon as you lose one of them, you lose a little bit of momentum.”

Morison, meanwhile, limped off to be replaced by on-loan Albanian striker Edgar Cani just four minutes into the second half after pulling up in the centre circle.

Redfearn explained: "He just said he felt his groin a little bit at half-time, maybe that was through a little bit of tiredness.

"He’s done brilliantly for us has Steve, he’s led the line, but we tried to get him off as quick as we could to limit the damage."

United now face Watford at Elland Road as they look to make amends for the Amex defeat, and Redfearn is optimistic of having both Byram and Morison in contention.

“I’m hoping both are going to be available,” he said.

“Sam’s got a good chance. We could have perhaps risked him but we might have then lost him for two or three games.

“He’s an important player for us so hopefully the rest will have done him good and he’ll be available.”

Redfearn also admitted he may be tempted into rotating his squad against the Hornets, with the game coming in the middle of a typically hectic Championship period for United.

“You’ve got to look at your week and the games you’ve got coming up,” said the head coach.

“We might look at changing it around a little bit, depending on how people feel.

“I don’t think it was through a lack of effort, at times we just made poor decisions and I don’t think we attacked like we can attack.

“We didn’t break with any purpose or menace. It’s disappointing but you’re not going to play well every week.

“You’re not going to win every week and it’s a mark of perhaps how far we’ve come that we’re disappointed playing away from home when we don’t win.”