HEYBRIDGE Swifts boss Cliff Akurang says injuries have frustrated his attempts to establish a settled side.
Akurang has made several additions to the squad since taking over as manager last month, the latest being Jordan Willmore, a former Watford academy player, who made his debut in Tuesday night's Heybridge 2-1 defeat at Redbridge.
Now he hopes to have some players back from injury so he has a regular line-up at his disposal that can build an understanding in the coming weeks.
"The changes at the moment have been forced through injuries or people that are away so I'm just making sure I have the right back-up I need," he revealed.
"It would be nice to have a settled team that I could go with week in, week out but I've not been allowed to do that at the moment.
"You never know, the next few games might tell, we've got a lot of games this month and touch wood we can stay injury free but if not I still have to make sure that the players who come in have the same understanding of my philosophy and do the job.
"I think we missed some of the key players at Redbridge, [Michael] Fitzgibbon is out injured long-term and Danny Barber could be back as soon as Saturday.
"But in saying that I still felt the new guys that came in adapted themselves really quickly and proved what they can do at this level. The more they get used to each other the better they'll get."
The Heybridge boss' touchline ban, from when he was sent off playing for Maldon & Tiptree, ends this weekend when they travel to Dereham Town and the manager admits he is looking forward to being back pitchside.
"It's been frustrating standing in the stand because getting your points across and messages across has been quite difficult," he said.
"I'm glad that's over so hopefully I can push them from the touchline and get a result that way."
Akurang didn't let Tuesday's loss dampen his spirits too much, however, as he is confident his players can bounce back by applying themselves like in previous games.
"They're still giving me 110 per cent effort and the workrate I've asked for, I just want them to get the rewards from the work by doing the right things at the right time," he said.
"That will be reward enough because they've proved that when they apply themselves in the right manner they can get a result against anyone.
"I said to them, in this league, it is a case of anyone can beat anyone so you can't take anyone for granted and you've got to approach every single game with that determination and will to win."
