Stafford Rangers have ruled out top scorer Nick Wellecomme for the Blue Square North game at Hinckley as the search goes on for a new striker ahead of the trip to Leicestershire.

The Marston Road men are down to the bare bones in the forward department with the absence of Wellecomme with an ongoing back injury, after Ben Mills left the club last week for Alfreton before the team played at Blyth Spartans.

Now the manager will definitely not be able to call upon any first-choice strikers tomorrow, with only the untried Eugene Francis and new signing Patrick Samba in reserve – although midfielder Levi Reid has played up front before.

But Brindley is not giving up hope of bringing in a new frontman for the game and that search could go on right up until hours before the game.

He said: “Nick won’t play on Saturday, and we are still hoping to bring somebody in ahead of the game, which we can do right up until early Saturday morning. We have got a few problems, obviously with him out and Ben going, just when we had started to turn the corner.

“We have had a decent run in the league but this has set us back, so we have got to try and rebuild in that area. Anybody could come into contention with the way things are, so Eugene could play.

“He and Patrick are strikers, they are in the squad so they could feature.”

Mills’ departure last week has seemed to have a snowball effect at Marston Road, with a threadbare squad stretched to the limit by the departure of the key player.

Wellecomme’s injury had flared up before that, although the seven-goal striker valiantly played through the pain for the club at Blyth last Saturday.

Rangers’ financial constraints make it difficult for the manager to keep pulling rabbits out of the hat, and Brindley is under illusions about the situation.

He said: “That is the reality of where we are at, it’s not ideal, because there are a lot of sides we cannot compete with financially. Our aim is to make sure we survive in this league, that is our priority. It’s tough, it can be frustrating to see good players leave but that is the difficulty of the job.

“We will carry on looking for players who can be good for our team.”