Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton will not be calling on back-up despite the fact that Steve Finnan and Darren Potter have both been ruled out of the squad ahead of Wednesday's all-important European qualifier against the Czech Republic in Prague.

The pair were both selected in Staunton's original 25-man squad but missed Saturday's game with Slovakia because of knee and groin injuries respectively.

Neither player travelled to Bratislava and remained at their clubs - Liverpool and Wolves - with a view to joining the squad in Prague if fit.

But Staunton has confirmed neither are sufficiently recuperated to feature.

"It's unfortunate that Steve and Darren have withdrawn," said the manager, "but we still have 20 players in the squad which will still give us plenty of options for Wednesday's game."

Indeed, Finnan is only due to start jogging on Merseyside today while Potter has yet to resume training at Mick McCarthy's club.

Staunton will not being replacing Manchester City's Stephen Ireland either, after the midfielder returned home late last night following the death of his paternal grandmother.

Ireland was originally told that his maternal grandmother had died and only discovered on his arrival back in England that it was his father's mother who had passed away.

The remaining squad members trained at Sparta Prague's facilities in the Czech capital this morning and Staunton has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game.

Saturday goalscorer Kevin Doyle (hamstring) and man-of-the-match Richard Dunne (knee) are both nursing minor knocks but are not considered doubtful for Wednesday's crucial showdown.

"Doyler felt a bit tight and sore but he's okay," said Staunton.  "We'll keep an eye on him. Dunney took a whack (in Saturday's game) but that won't stop Dunney.

"We will pick ourselves up. We're disappointed with [Saturday's 2-2 result] but we have to move on. We have got a big game on Wednesday night and we know what we have to do."

The Czech Republic must plan without the suspended Jan Koller following his booking against San Marino on Saturday while striker partner Milan Baros is struggling with a back injury.

The locals still remain strong favourites to win Wednesday's game and ultimately pip Ireland to qualification but midfielder Tomas Rosicky warns a rethink in approach is required.

"We will miss Koller a lot, no doubt about it. Considering the possible loss of Milan, it is going to be an unpleasant situation for us," said the Arsenal clubman.

"We have different types of strikers in the squad though, all fast which could be crucial against the Irish.   We will have to play differently and perhaps, eventually it will come as an advantage for us."