Striker shortage is a worry for Hastings United boss

Ben Pope has had a niggling injury, his deputy James Hull is a month away from full fitness – and now Danny Parish has been allowed to leave for Canvey Island.

Pope is expected to be fit for tomorrow’s final pre-season friendly at Ramsgate but with the lack of back-ups, boss Gary Elphick is stepping up the search for another striker he’d like to bring in before the league opener at home to Aveley in eight days’ time.

Elphick said Parish’s departure was mutually agreed, with the Hastings boss unsure that United’s preference for playing one central striker with two wide men suited Parish. "It’s all amicable. We had a conversation and it was agreed he would move. We thank him for what he did for us and wish him all the best,” said Elphick.

"But with Ben just coming back and James having missed pre-season, I want to bring in another striker. They’re probably the hardest players to find. We don’t want to rush it and bring in the wrong sort of player but it would be nice to get another one before the first league game.”

Elphick is also hopeful of recruiting a left-back – one with Football League experience – as he plots the step three campaign.

Results in pre-season have been mixed for the Us but they won 3-0 at Lancing in their latest outing, thanks to goals from Finn O’Mara, Tom Chalmers and Knory Scott. That followed losses to Dulwich Hamlet, Beaconsfield and Ipswich Town U23s.

Elphick admitted: “We’ve been up and down in pre-season and are looking forward to competitive games where three points are on the line. Some players have done well – with others there’s been a bit of complacency. At half-time at Lancing I had to get into them a bit, which I don’t like doing in pre-season, but we did step it up.

"The fact is some players don’t like pre-season – I didn’t when I played. But we have competition for places and players will need to show they deserve a place. I'm sure we’ll see people step up as the season gets started.”