Rob Smith hoping for last-gasp Telford swoop

With Jack Rea ruled out again this evening, manager Rob Smith has been in talks with a mystery ball-winner.

He was hoping to secure a loan deal from a higher-ranked club by today's deadline to be available tonight.

"We're still hopeful of maybe having someone in and we're still in negotiations with the club and player," said Smith.

"It's a loan deal from a club from a higher level so we'll see whether something happens."

The Bucks chief wants to add some steel in the middle of the park with Rea having failed to shake off the ankle problem he aggravated in training.

The injury caused him to miss Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Halifax.

"We've been on the lookout because we haven't really got another defensive tackling midfielder and without Jack we miss a physical presence," said Smith.

"We need to strengthen in there which we hopefully will do.

"We just need to have some more talking with the player to get it over the line.

"We lost two midfielders (Lee Fowler and Michael Monaghan), so we were always going to replace them.

"I don't think it's a long-term thing with Jack and we're hoping by Saturday he should be fairly close."

As for the new striker he is keen to recruit, Smith has so far drawn a blank.

"We've got absolutely nowhere," he said. "We need a striker, not in terms of numbers but someone to put the ball in the net.

"But I don't think Dave Hibbert is going to be out for long, in fact he may be able to play some part tonight.

"It's clear to see we need a striker, but the names people are throwing at me wouldn't make us any better.

"You need £500, £600, £700 (a week) to get a quality player up front at the moment.

"That's the market, the bottom line and we haven't got that."

Telford are also boosted by the availability of Dan Preston for tonight's match. The former Tamworth centre-back has missed the last two games with food poisoning.

Telford travel to fellow National League North side Worcester City in the FA Cup on Saturday, September 17.