The Alexandria-based club are reeling after their poor showing at the African Confederation Cup.

They finished at the bottom of Group B of Africa's secondary club competition after failing to secure any victory to suffer a group-stage exit for the third successive season.

Hodoud also made a less than impressive start to their Egyptian Premier League campaign, collecting just nine points from their first five matches.

Coach Tarek Al-Ashri blamed Hodoud's slump in form on niggling injuries and that problem seems unlikely to ease soon.

"We have shortage of options upfront, we will have to rely on some young players," Al-Ashri told FilGoal.com on Friday.

Hodoud resume league action against Alexandria neighbors Ittihad on Tuesday but they will have to do without strike trio Ahmed Abdul-Ghani, Ahmed Salama and Senegalese Pape N'Diaye, who are all injured.

Egyptian international forward Ahmed Eid is also out as he will serve the last of the four-match ban imposed on him by the Egyptian FA's competition committee for misconduct.

"Our game against Ittihad is very important," Al-Ashri, who steered Hodoud to two consecutive Egyptian Cup triumphs, added.

"We want to produce fine results in the league while Ittihad want to climb out of their crisis."

Hodoud lie ninth in the 16-team league table but still have three games in hand. Struggling Ittihad are third from bottom with six points.