Spalding RFC are suffering from an untimely selection crisis ahead of Saturday’s Midlands Two East (North) trip to Ashbourne (2.15pm).
Relegation-threatened Town are without a host of key players for the game in Derbyshire as they bid to earn that elusive first away win of the campaign.
Among those to be unavailable are key men Harry Sharman, Ryan Chappell, Ash Piccaver, George Douglas and Harry Harrison, while James West and Sion Williams are both considered doubts.
The Elephants do hope to have George Brown back, but skipper Sam Cooke accepts that the situation is far from ideal.
Town go into the game in the bottom two and very much in need of a morale-boosting win after Saturday’s loss to relegation rivals Melbourne 20-17 (see page 46).
It was a tough day for all connected with the club following the death of long-serving chairman Geof Nichols, but Cooke refused to make any excuses.
“Saturday was a rough one for all concerned,” said captain Cooke. “But we should have been even more motivated to win than usual. The game was there for us to win, but we let it slip from our grasp.
“It was a tight struggle, but we made some fundamental errors that really cost us dear.
“All we can take from the game is that it was very close and we always had a chance of winning.
“Hopefully we can take that into Saturday, but it’ll be a tough one.
“Ashbourne are a strong side who have beaten a number of the top teams this season.
“I’m a little worried as our selection circumstances are far from ideal. But hopefully we can pull something out of the fire.”
Meanwhile, Spalding have added a new face to their backroom staff.
George Reid, an experienced Level 3 coach, will work alongside current coach Bruno Figuireido for the remainder of the season and beyond.
Cooke added: “It can only be a good thing to have George involved.
“He’s been in and around the squad for the past few weeks and hopefully he’ll help us come together and get out of our current situation.”
Saturday’s opponents Ashbourne are currently fifth and beat Mansfield 26-5 on Saturday.
