ALBION boss Gus Poyet fears The Amex pitch is responsible for a succession of hamstring injuries.

Kazenga LuaLua limped out of the 1-1 FA Cup draw against Wrexham in the second half.

Craig Noone, Mauricio Taricco and Marcos Painter are all currently sidelined by hamstring trouble and Will Buckley has suffered recurring hamstring problems. Poyet told The Argus: “Kazenga is that kind of player. If he is going to get injured it’s hamstring. I am not worried about that, I am worried about the quantity, because we have gone from none to five or six.

“I think it’s the pitch. This pitch is rock-hard and the pitch we play on every day (in training) is totally the opposite, really wet. We are paying the price, because it’s happening a lot.

“We made a mistake as well in the number of hours we use the pitch. We use it too much but I was told last week, which is bit late.

“We are having only hamstrings and we didn’t have one last year. We asked the players, we’ve tried different things, but when you sprint and stop and start again it’s different to every day in training.

“The pitch is a problem but I’m not going to blame the pitch. It’s a beautiful stadium. I don’t want to back to Withdean!”