DEFENDER Martin Riley would welcome a summer of league matches before he has an operation on his shoulder costing £5,000.

Following yesterday’s 4-0 defeat to Spennymoor players were unsure when they would play again with the National League to decide if they are to have a break due to the coronavirus.

The Bulls have seven league fixtures left to play starting with a scheduled home game against Gloucester City on Saturday.

“We’re not really thinking about it to be honest and will just have to wait and see what’s going on as nobody know what’s going to happen at the moment,” said Riley.

“There’s a lot of rumours floating around and games being called off. It was a bit of a strange one last night in the hotel as we weren’t sure if the game was going to be on or off to be honest and it was a like that all yesterday.

“There’s nothing we can do, we’ve just got to carry on and see what happens with the league.

Riley has had ongoing problems with his shoulder popping out of its socket during matches this season and is planning to have it operated on in the off-season.

When asked if he would be up for playing the remainder of the season in the summer.

Riley replied: “Yes, why not? I’ve missed a lot of football this year with my shoulder.

“It’s (the shoulder operation)is not booked yet and I’m talking with the (Player Football Association) PFA at the moment to get it booked in and as soon as the season finishes it’s a £5,000 operation to have my shoulder put back in.

“To be honest it’s the best my shoulder has felt even though it popped out the other week at York I’ve had no issues with it.

“The strapping seems to be working and it feels alright to be fair.”

Riley said that the Bulls were ‘massively disappointed’ with their performance following Saturday’s defeat at Spennymoor which saw them go behind with a penalty inside the opening seven minutes.

“I think they’ve had five shots and scored four goals but that’s not taking anything away from them they were massively clinical in front of goal,” added Riley.

“The boys have got to hold their hands up as well because we’ve got to mark better in the box from crosses.

“They’ve taken their chances really well but we’ve got to be better at picking men up in the box. It’s a massive disappointment for us today.

“The first goal was so soft and the referee has killed us and put us on the back foot after five minutes. I was right next to it and nine times out of 10 they aren’t given.

“So we were on the back foot from the first five minutes.

“We have dropped our standards today especially with the goals and in the final third we’ve got to be more clinical, but this team has come a long way in two months.

“We’re by no means the finished article and there’s a lot to work on, but we’re going in the right direction.

“It was massively disappointing to lose 4-0 but this dressing room has been about positivity since (Josh) Gowling has come in and we’ve absolutely dominated the second half.

“We’ve got to be better in the final third because we had a lot of possession and created a lot of good build-up play into the final third.

“But that final ball, pass and cross has got to be better. We kind of know where we’re going and where we want to be at the moment and as a centre-half I’m massively disappointed that we’ve conceded four goals there but we are a working progress at the moment.

“Gowling has only been in charge a couple of months and there is a lot of positives to take from it especially going forward.

“Defensively we’ve been solid for the last four or five games and 4-0 looks shocking to be honest but we’re going to carry on the positive vibes around the camp.”