Moneyfields boss aiming to solve goalkeeping crisis ahead of Hampshire Senior Cup trip to Winchester City

Regular goalkeeper Jake Hallett is suffering from a groin strain which hampered him in his side’s 7-0 Southern League nightmare at Willand at the weekend.

In the past central defender Sam Pearce been deployed as a replacement but manager Dave Carter is hoping to get a replacement in.

'I need to go and get a goalkeeper,' he stated.

'In all the years I have been at this club I have never experienced the kind of injury problems we have at the moment.

'On top of the injuries at Willand, we also had two players suspended (Tyler Giddings and Lewis Fennemore).

'It meant that we had to draft in two 17-year-olds and we had Steve Hutchings playing his first game in four weeks.

'This will be a tough game because Winchester are going well at the moment.

'It was only a couple of weeks ago they beat us 2-0 at our place.

'We may need to change our shape and maybe do things a little differently.

'At the moment we are conceding goals for fun.

'Confidence is low and when that is the case players change the way they do things.

'They start taking an extra touch on the ball to try and make sure of things and get caught out.

'We know that it is time for us to roll up our sleeves and dig our way out of the situation.'

Carter's main hope is that his team will display a lot more resilience away from home, having been caned 5-1 at Highworth in their previous away game prior to the Willand thrashing.

In all, Moneys have shipped 16 goals in their last three away league matches and have slipped to fifth bottom of the Southern League Division 1 South - after finishing fifth top last term.

Contrastly, Winchester are third - the weekend 1-1 draw with fellow high-flyers Paulton ending a run of five straight league wins.

City are also still in the Southern League Cup and Southampton Senior Cup after 4-0 and 6-0 wins over Thatcham and Infinity respectively in recent weeks.

They were also the highest scorers in the first round of the Hampshire Senior Cup, winning 8-3 at Wessex Leaguers Hythe & Dibden.

Top scorer Simba Mlambo netted twice that night as part of his 13-goal haul, while ex-Gosport Borough midfielder Jamie Barron grabbed his 11th of the season against Paulton.

City have relied heavily on the goals of another former Privett Park player in the last two seasons, Oli Bailey. He struck 20 times last season and 23 times in 2017/18, but only has four goals this term.