I’VE challenged my players not to feel sorry for themselves at the moment and concentrate on getting the club through what’s going to be a difficult few weeks.

We had seven regulars out on Saturday and we had another two go off.

I ended up having to have unfit players on the bench and two players who played three positions.

There’s Kevin Sawyer (groin), Nathan Rudge (knee), Greg Tindle (knee and ankle), Alex Kite, Iain Harvey and Mani Randhawa (all hamstring), Ashley Williams (glute), James Guthrie (ankle) Shaun Lamb and of course, Lewis Powell (broken leg).

Most of those will miss this weekend’s game and I’d say that James Guthrie is probably the only one who looks as if he may be alright but we’re going to have to assess everyone in training tonight. It’s all a massive blow to us at the moment because we were trying to get that consistency into the side and now we’re struggling for bodies again.

We had nine players train on Tuesday night but the ones who played against Leamington, right through the side from Tommy Smith, were superb and had to defend against some real pressure.

Leamington were a tough, physical side but we created one or two good opportunities to score ourselves. A draw at Leamington isn’t a bad result.

I also had two U18 lads, Charlie Austin and Ben Wickens, on the bench and if it wasn’t for the sending off (Toby Osman), then they would have got on.

They enjoyed the day and are definitely players for the future at the football club.

Signing Ian Herring at the end of last week was a no-brainer.

I know all about him and he’s a good player, who’s got that bit of experience to help the side.

We may have to do something similar again at the end of this week to get us through Saturday but there’s the financial issue and you obviously want to try to bring the right people in.

I went down to watch Bashley on Tuesday night and they’ll be coming to us this weekend off the back of a good result (a 3-1 win over Chesham United).

They could have easily scored more on the day and the scoreline didn’t really show how comfortable they were.

We’ll be coming off the back of two draws but if we’re at our best, then we’ll still have what it takes to get a good result.