HEREFORD manager Josh Gowling says he is looking for two strikers after being blindsided by the departure of striker Joey Butlin.

Butlin trained and played for the Bulls during pre-season and in the opening game defeat against Farsley Celtic.

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However, after the game the Bulls boss says he was told that the striker was leaving due to work commitments.

“To be completely honest we were caught blindsided by it,” said Gowling.

“It would have been good to know it a little bit sooner as it changes our recruitment strategy moving forward but Joey has decided for work commitments and family reasons he couldn’t continue which is fine.

“You have to put your family first but it leaves us short. We were looking at bringing in a striker anyway so now we’ve got to look at possibly bringing in two additions.

“We played the games (against Farsley Celtic) and afterwards he’s let us know that he will be moving on and he’s played for Chasetown the other day.

“If night-time training suits him and his family then he’s got to put them first.”

Despite searching for a marksman the Bulls boss says there are not many available at the moment and he hopes that more will become available once the Football League transfer window closes.

Gowling added: “Everybody knows we need a striker and everybody wants to bring a striker in but everybody needs a goal scorer don’t they?

“It’s about finding the right one who has the right attitude and buys into the football club. I’d want two in yesterday but the reality is there’s not a lot of players out there at the moment.

“There are players that want to stay in the Football League and are waiting as long as possible. That window shuts in a couple of weeks so once that shuts all of a sudden players will filter down.

“There’s a lot of permutations to transfers this year and it’s not been as fluid as it was last year.

Gowling has also highlighted the money available to him compared to what some strikers are asking for as an obstacle in recruiting.

“It’s either they are not being realistic or we don’t have any money,” added Gowling.

“We got hit hard commercially so your budgets are not what they were. You have to recruit accordingly.

“We’ve lost a few players unfortunately that we couldn’t afford to bring in but the club has to be sustainable.

“If we’ve got to bring younger players in for cheaper prices then that’s what we’ve got to do.”