NPL Division One East
Having seen his side score only 15 times in the league this season, it is no surprise Dave Frecklington is attempting to sign some new forwards at Frickley Athletic.
Frickley know how to defend but they can’t put it in the onion bag and Frecklington is desperate to address the issue as he foresees danger ahead if he doesn’t.
“Probably two if we can get them in,” Frecklington told Non League Yorkshire.
“We need to get the right ones in.
“We’ve had Jacob Hazel, Jono Margetts, Liam Hughes (in the past few years) and they’ve gone onto bigger and better things and they are flying now and they are goals we haven’t been able to replace.
“Brad Grayson is scoring at Gainsborough so we have lost a lot of firepower over the last year or two.
“That is down to covid, stop-start, rebuild, rebuild and it is a continuation of that.
“I’m bored of saying it. It is factual but I don’t really want to keep leaning onto it.
“We have to do something about it and try and get the right ones in to get the results now.
“We need that striker or two to finish our chances and if we get them then we’ll climb up the league table very quickly.
“In my mind, unless we can start scoring goals we could easily be in a relegation fight, there’s no doubt about it.
“You look at where we are in the league.
“We’re 13th at the moment.
“We have let in 27 goals in 18 games which is not that bad.
“We conceded 12 in three of those so you take the 12 off the 27 and that’s 15 in 15 games, that’s play-off form defensively.
“The team below us, Lincoln United, have let in double (54) what we have.”
Now after collecting one point in three games since those comments, Frecklington has conceded defeat in their top five bid.
“Oh yeah (our play-offs hopes are over), the bee-all and end-all is we’re not good enough,” he said.
“We can dress it up, we have lost players and we have one of the best defensive records in the league but we have the worst goals for.
“That’s not through a lack of chances, that’s through not having people at the top end of the pitch to put the ball in the net.
“That’s the long and short of it.
“If you can’t score goals you’re not going to win anything.
“We’re looking to address and we’re working hard on the training ground as well and hopefully we can start the New Year by finding a way to score goals and hopefully keep the solidness about the team.”
The pandemic and the surge of the omicron variant is plaqueing the country and all clubs are encountering player availability issues.
Frickley were decimated for the 1-0 defeat to Hebburn Town at Westfield Lane on Saturday.
“It is the story of our season,” Frecklington said.
“We had two subs on Saturday and that included Leon Mettam my assistant.
“We have been hit by covid.
“We lost our captain, our left-back, our goalkeeping coach so we’re pretty depleted at the moment.
“But we’ll patch up and try and kick on.
“I’d rather try and play with 13 than not and I try not to use covid as an excuse.
“To lose our captain Brad Beatson was a blow.
“He’s been unbelievable this year and been probably our best player.
“He’s a leader and we named him captain when Wellsy was suspended and he has kept that armband and he leads by example.
“Then we lose him to covid, the same with Joe West.
“We really thought we were at the backend of the pandemic but it has reared its ugly head and it is really affecting a lot of other clubs, not just us.”
Although it is unclear what the coming days will bring but in the meantime Frecklington has to prepare his side for the local derby at Pontefract Collieries on Monday.
“It is a huge game,” he said.
“Not only is it a local derby, there’s points to be played for.
“We beat Worksop in a local derby, we lost Ossett in another derby and this is obviously a big one.
“It is important we prepare properly and it is a game we are looking forward to and we probably go into it as the underdog.
“We’re away and they’re in great form.
“We’re not in great form so I’m sure it will be a feisty game.”