Morpeth Town boss Craig Lynch is eager to add reinforcements to a squad showing signs of being overstretched after the Highwaymen were knocked out of the Newcastle Flooring Senior Cup by Newcastle Benfield.
On a freezing night at Sam Smith’s Park, Town couldn’t break down their Northern League hosts, eventually losing 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 stalemate.
After seeing our participation in the competition ended, Lynch, although bitterly disappointed by the outcome, pointed to Dan Langley’s return as a small crumb of comfort.
“There’s an overwhelming sense of disappointment as it’s always a competition I want to get to the final of,” said the Morpeth manager.
“The game was about mentality and intensity on a typical Winter pitch and credit to Benfield they started with a lot more than us and set the tempo for the game which hurt a lot.
“It was a very similar scenario to Saturday in that we’ve lost seven players in the last month through injuries and loan expiration, which would highly affect any team.
“However, if you have the shirt you need to do what you can to keep it.
“With the restraints we have we need to go and add to the squad, which is simple for anybody to see.
“If there’s any positives to take from last night, a clean sheet and Dan Langley coming through the game unscathed, for the first time as a goalkeeper in 10 games, and James Huntley managing 60 minutes for the first time in six months are pluses.
“Thankfully we have no game on Saturday which gives a lot of lads playing through illness and injuries time to recover – as management we will be doing everything over the next week to add to the squad.”
