Ospreys coach Sean Holley was left to rue his side's ever-increasing injury crisis as they lost 19-17 to Northampton in their LV= Cup opener at Liberty Stadium.

The severely depleted hosts, without 29 players through injury and international call-ups, trailed 13-0 at the end of the opening quarter but fought back to take a 17-16 lead thanks to tries from Richard Hibbard and Jonathan Spratt.

But Northampton fly-half Stephen Myler slotted his fourth penalty of the game with 10 minutes to go to seal the win for Saints.

Ospreys' injury woes were increased before the game as full-back Barry Davies withdrew with a back spasm while captain Ian Gough, lock Filo Tiatia and hooker Hibbard were forced from the field during the match.

Holley said: "I think we are on our last legs now. It's very, very difficult.

"We had some boys out there who had not played at the Liberty for a while and some of the execution and some of the skills were very disappointing.

"We were down to our ninth and 10th-choice second rows at the end of the game so what do you expect?

"Ian Gough, our captain and last standing second row, has done his ribs, Filo has come off injured, Hibbard has a neck injury and Barry Davies had a back spasm and we can't afford to lose players of that calibre at this stage of the season."

The Welsh side face Bath next weekend in their second group game and Holley admitted Tiatia and Gough look certain to miss that game.

"Filo will definitely be out, he's 39 years old for goodness sake," he said.

"Even with our second row situation I can't see Ian Gough lining up next week."

Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder was just pleased to see his side claim victory despite being below their best.

He said: "It's always hard to come down to Wales and it is always good to win.

"It wasn't the best performance and it was a bit scrappy but we'll go back up the motorway quite content.

"Our line-out went well and we took our opportunities. We had an inexperienced front five, but I thought we scrummaged well and some of the decisions there were controversial, but we don't know why referees make some of those decisions."