FOLLOWING the slightly disappointing result against Dagenham & Redbridge, the fact that we once again failed to score is obviously causing us concern, bearing in mind our current league form as well.

In some of the previous league matches, we have performed reasonably well and not picked up the results our play has deserved.

However, against Dagenham, we never got our passing game flowing often enough.

There are several issues to be taken into consideration when judging the performance.

Did the players work hard? The answer is yes. Did we stick to the formation and the discipline that we have looked at over recent weeks? The answer to that is yes.

But did we play well and get our football flowing? The answer is obviously no.

And, in front of goal, we always looked a little bit timid.

When that happens, it is no good continually getting on the back of players.

We have to continue with the good work and hope that, sooner or later, something will happen in front of goal.

It is a week in which we need to bring some new faces in.

Goalscoring has been a problem to us and so, obviously, a striker is a priority.

But, again, there are a number of considerations.

The player has got to be better than what we have; the club has got to be prepared to let him come out, and the player has got to agree to come to us.

Very often, getting all of those three factors together can be difficult, particularly in a period when we can only take emergency loans.

I have talked to a number of managers about their players and the situation with some of them seemed quite promising.

But these can drag on for some time, particularly with the parent club waiting, perhaps, to clear injuries or get fixture congestion out of the way.

But we will persevere.

One of the players that we had talked about was Wolves goalkeeper Matt Murray and speculation was rife on Friday that he might join us.

Unfortunately, the reaction to that from loan goalkeeper Darren Randolph was to, point blank, refuse to play against Dagenham.

It was an attitude that left me baffled. It was a situation that, in nearly 30 years of management, I had never ever experienced before.

To tell me less than two hours before the game, after the team had been announced, was not what I would have expected from a professional player.

If he was a contracted player, his contract would have been terminated with immediate effect for breaching the terms of that contract.

But as he is here on a long-term loan, the course of action we can take is not straightforward.

In the meantime, we certainly hope to have brought in a new player or two before Saturday's big game against Cheltenham.