Ballymena United's boxing Day defeat to Coleraine proved costly in more ways than one.
The Sky Blues went down 2-0 to their derby rivals but the loss of both Conor Keeley and Steven McCullough was a double whammy for Jeffrey, who revealed both players are unlikely to feature against Glentoran next Monday.
“Big Conor unfortunately pulled up in the warm up and we then had to make changes," said the United boss.
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“We weren’t too far into the game before we lost Steven which was also disappointing.
“I would have thought it's highly unlikely they will be available for next week.
“Steven will go for an X-ray and we will see what that shows.
“I don’t think Conor will be available but that’s part and parcel and injuries to players give opportunities to others."
On the field Jeffrey was pleased with the response his side produced in the second half but admitted they had given themselves too much to do after the Bannsiders went into the break in charge after goals from Conor McKendry and Matthew Shevlin.
“We conceded two goals but we should have done better for both of them," he said.
“They were simple movements, we let players go and we were punished accordingly.
“I felt we contributed much more in the second-half, we certainly responded to the disappointment of the first-half, but ultimately the story of the game is that the mountain was too high for us to climb after the first 45 minutes.
“We will dust ourselves down, get back at it and prepare accordingly and see if we can get back up and running again.
“We will want to respond to the disappointment of today and look to do our best moving forward."
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