Danny Hussey admits that his Holbeach United squad is down to the bare bones – and he’s already having to dip back into the transfer market.
Injuries to Michael Frew (at least two months out) and Jono Fairweather (two more weeks out) have be compounded by the loss of Joe Smith (hamstring), while Joe Braithwaite is also out of Saturday’s Ulhsport UCL Premier Division game at Anstey Nomads (3pm).
Defender Jonny Clay has left the club to join ChromaSport PDFL Premier Division side Moulton Harrox, while Hussey has also been unable to convince Jamie Stevens to re-join the first team, with the defender now set for a shock move to Parson Drove.
That has left the Holbeach boss well short on numbers and he hopes to bring a few new faces in ahead of the weekend, with a huge home date with Deeping Rangers (Wednesday, 7.45pm) also on the horizon.
“We’re absolutely down to the bare bones,” bemoaned Hussey. “Frewy has his foot in a protective boot for four to six weeks, while Jono won’t be back until the Corby game on August 24 at the earliest.
“Joe’s hamstring is 50/50 at the moment and Jonny has decided to leave.
“I had hoped to convince Jamie to play with us, but I’m disappointed to hear that he wants to play down the ladder elsewhere. But that’s his choice.
“I didn’t really want to dip into the market, but we’ll probably have one or two new players in over the next four or five days.”
Having been thrashed 5-0 by league newboys Loughborough University on the opening day of the season, Hussey is also refusing to take fellow Leicestershire-based newcomers Anstey lightly on Saturday.
Promoted as UCL Division One runners-up last season, Nomads have lost three key players to Stamford and lost their first two games of the new season to Wellingborough Town (3-2) and Rugby Town (5-1).
They also went down 3-0 against Kirby Muxloe in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Hussey added: “I’m not going to take anything for granted – look at what Loughborough did to us.
“I’ll be honest, I know very little about them. They had a good season last year, but maybe losing their best players to Stamford has hit them a bit.”
There is guaranteed to be one new face in the Tigers team, with ex-Wisbech Town midfielder Danny Setchell joining the club on Friday.
Hussey also revealed that he was buoyed to see all of the squad donate a slice of their wages to injured team-mate Frew, who is self-employed and currently unable to work due to his broken foot, on Saturday.
