Dean Hammond has been given the all-clear for Albion's Easter programme and has vowed to carry on battling through his injury problems.

The skipper was ruled out of Saturday's 2-0 win at Northampton by hamstring trouble.

The Seagulls were, as a result, considering bringing forward surgery to repair the double hernia Hammond has been playing with since before Christmas.

But a scan has revealed no hamstring tear and physio Malcolm Stuart expects Hammond to be available for Saturday's home game against Doncaster, which is followed 48 hours later by the trip to Tranmere.

Boss Dean Wilkins said: "Dean wants to still be involved. Malcolm says there is no tear, just a strain, so the hamstring will be all right.

"It is just a case of how we play it from now onwards with the double hernia. We might even look at it next Tuesday."

Alex Revell and Tommy Elphick also have suspected hernias which will require surgery at the end of the season.

Nick Ward makes his comeback from international duty in the reserves against Millwall at Worthing tonight (7pm).

Chris Breach is out with a groin injury as the reserves continue their double bid.

They are already through to the Sussex Senior Cup final and need to win four of their last five games in the Pontin's Holidays Combination to pip Southampton to the title.