The Nyewood Lane outfit sit second from bottom in the Isthmian premier division table and host Chatham Town on Saturday desperate to get more points on the board.
The game comes after a crushing 4-1 defeat last time out at Folkestone Invicta in which Blake was forced to withdraw Harvey Whyte, Tommy Block, Calvin Davies and Charlie Lambert. Now he faces a race against time to get those players fit for the weekend’s Nye Camp encounter against the Chats.
Attacker Lambert, a recent signing from Sussex rivals Whitehawk, will definitely miss out and looks set to be on the sidelines for at least three weeks.
The fitness of the other absentees will be assessed before Blake can shape his squad for the showdown. Already unavailable for Blake are the long-term injured trio of Craig Robson, Ben Anderson and Lucas Pattenden. Of late the manager has been forced to dip into the youth ranks to bolster his numbers for match squads.
He said: “Obviously the injuries we have suffered this season have been disastrous but moaning about it won’t get us anywhere and what we should be doing and what we will be doing is focusing on our weaknesses on the pitch that have led us to be in such a lowly position. Against Folkestone I actually thought we were marginally the better side in the first half, but you go in at the break 2-1 down and then we fail to defend our box properly from crosses and end up losing the game.
“Dan Gifford had a couple of good chances that if he takes puts a completely different complexion on the game, but that’s football. In short, if we are more efficient in front of goal and more robust defending our goal, we wouldn’t be in the position in which we find our ourselves. But that’s where we are and the challenge remains to get points that will move us up the table, get us away from danger and allow us to see players come back from injury who can truly reflect the strength of our squad and our ambition.”
Blake hasn’t ruled out more recruitment to try to strengthen his outfit at the back and in attack. But he wants players who are going to come in to be able to impact performances rather than just make up the numbers. He added: “We are constantly looking to improve the squad but we feel that any move for a player would have to enhance what we have already rather than simply look to add numbers for the sake of it.
“Youth players such as Toby Kingswell and Lenny Smith have come into the reckoning recently as well as others and perhaps the one benefit of having so many injured players is that the youngsters are getting a chance to show what they can do. We have also brought in Preston Woolston, who is a very talented young player and will no doubt develop with game time, which is what we are presently able to give him. If we can get some of the more established players back fit and healthy the combination of that experience as well as the input from talented youngsters, we hope this formula is one which will help us improve.”
