ALBION manager Chris Hughton has expressed concern over the long absence of Kazenga LuaLua.

The explosive left-winger is ruled out for the tenth game in succession against Birmingham at the Amex tomorrow.

LuaLua was on fire at the start of the season, scoring four goals in the first seven games.

He has not played since suffering a groin injury in training after the draw at Wolves in mid-September.

Hughton, who originally anticipated having LuaLua available a month ago, said: “It is a concern. We’ve had to treat the injury conservatively and that has been the best approach.

“In periods where he has made progress we hoped the progress would come quicker but it hasn’t and we’ve had to do things the right way.

“It’s frustrating for us and him as well, because of his early season form. He was arguably playing as well as he has for some time, certainly in terms of goal tally and end product. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer.”

Andrew Crofts will also miss the Birmingham match with a minor hamstring injury which sidelined him at Burnley on Sunday.

Hughton expects Uwe Huenemeier (ankle), Rohan Ince (groin) and Inigo Calderon (illness) to all be available for the bench after they missed the Burnley draw as well.

Calderon scored twice in Albion’s 4-3 win against Birmingham at the Amex in February.