Bohemians, already facing an uphill struggle against German giants Kaiserslautern in tonight's UEFA Cup second leg, will have to do without centre back Shaun Maher.

The ex-Fulham defender has been ruled out with a hip injury and joins suspended striker Trevor Molloy on the Bohs missing list.

The Dublin side already trail 3-1 from the home leg a fortnight ago and the absence of those two key players forces manager Roddy Collins into a series of changes from the Tolka Park game.

Rob Bowman comes in instead of Maher and Molloy's unavailability means Collins will go with just one striker, Glen Crowe, with Dave Williamson handed an advanced midfield role.

Tony Hopper returns to the side at right back in place of the veteran Tony O'Connor. And Darren O'Keeffe - sent off in the preliminary-round victory over Aberdeen, returns to the midfield in place of Liam O'Brien.
O'Keeffe will fill the holding position just in front of centre backs Dave Hill and Bowman, in a one-three-one midfield diamond.

Admitting Bohs face a mammoth task, Collins was still talking tough yesterday.

"Kaiserslautern are on a different planet from us when you look at their players individually - but they don't play well as a team," Collins insisted.

"We were more than holding our own in the first leg until that red card for Trevor Molloy.

"We will have a go at them right from the first whistle, as we did in Tolka."