The 8 players set to miss Plymouth Argyle v Huddersfield Town ft Lorent Tolaj | OneFootball

The race for League One play-off places is tightening, and two of the contenders meet at Home Park on Saturday afternoon with players missing.

Plymouth Argyle entertain Huddersfield Town in a crucial League One match at Home Park on Saturday, so here's a look at who will be missing for this crucial fixture.

It is a sign of how tight things are in the top half of League One that everybody down to 11th place in the table still has a reasonable chance of securing at least a play-off place. The top two, Lincoln City and Cardiff City, are clear in the automatic promotion places, while Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City have a sufficient buffer to be able to ensure a play-off spot come the end of the season, providing they don't slip up.

But everybody from 5th-placed Stockport County down to 11th-placed Luton Town are still in contention for a play-off place, with Luton being just four points short of the final play-off position, which is currently held by Reading. And two of that chasing pack meet in a crucial match on Saturday, when Plymouth Argyle entertain Huddersfield Town at Home Park, with Plymouth in 10th place in the table and Huddersfield in 7th.

Plymouth are just one point behind Huddersfield, and the Terriers themselves are just one shy of Reading, so there really is all to play for in this fixture. With this in mind, here are the players who could be missing for this big match.

Lorent Tolaj

Plymouth have been welcoming players back from injury recently, with goalkeeper Conor Hazard, defender Brendan Galloway and midfielder Ayman Benarous all returning for Tuesday's 1-0 win against Stevenage.

But one of the bigger question marks is hanging over top scorer Lorent Tolaj, who's been out with a hamstring injury since the end of February. Tolaj has scored 18 goals in 32 appearances in all competitions for the Pilgrims this season, and he's expected back soon, but head coach Tom Cleverley has been playing his cards close to his chest over Tolaj's return for this match, saying before the Stevenage match that, "Potentially, it will be close."

Wes Harding

Harding was brought in on loan from Millwall at the end of the January transfer window, but has been missing himself with a groin injury and may not be quite ready in time for this match, although it is expected that he will return for next weekend's match against Bradford City if not.

Joe Ralls

The arrival of Wes Harding on loan from Millwall in the first place came about in no small part because of a hamstring injury to Joe Ralls, who will be missing for the rest of this season. Ralls damaged his hamstring in their match against Luton Town on the 24th January. Cleverley said when the seriousness of the injury was confirmed:

"The injury Joe suffered was right on the borderline of conservative rehab and surgical rehab. Because it was right on the borderline we wanted more than one opinion on that and that process has taken a little bit of time. Now we've come to the conclusion that Joe will go for surgery and unfortunately it looks like he's played his last game this season for the club."

Herbie Kane

The Plymouth midfielder Herbie Kane has had a few niggles over the last few weeks, but will definitely be missing from the Plymouth team on Saturday because he's on loan with them from Huddersfield and is consequently not eligible to play against his parent club.

Ryan Hardie

A former Plymouth player is Huddersfield's biggest injury concern ahead of this Saturday's match. Ryan Hardie scored the Terriers' first goal in their 2-2 draw with Lincoln City on Tuesday night, but he had to be withdrawn early in the second half, and the Huddersfield head coach Liam Manning has since said that: "He's still a bit sore and feeling it, so we need to have a look this morning and assess how he is before making a decision ultimately."

Bojan Radulovic

Bojan Radulovic has been out of the Huddersfield Town team since injuring his hamstring against Luton at the end of January. His anticipated time out was a couple of months, but Manning did say of him that - in comparison with their two other longer-term injuries - "Bojan is a lot closer."

Joe Low

Defender Joe Low has been out since Huddersfield's 3-2 win at Peterborough at the start of February with a calf injury, but while his injury timeline was expected to be the same as that of Radulovic, Manning said that, "Low is a little bit behind, but he's out doing certain work now."

Radinio Balker

Centre-back Radinio Balker has been out since injuring his hamstring against Luton Town on the 7th March, and it was expected that he would be out for around four weeks. Of Balker, Manning said that, "Rads is progressing in a good way", though he's unlikely to return to contention for a first-team place again until the start of April.