Bradford Park Avenue boss John Deacey admitted this week that his threadbare squad were under pressure to deliver results but insisted he would not be rushing to sign players.

Avenue have had a promising start to life in the Blue Square North and are currently mid-table after seven games but an injury glut is threatening to undermine the club’s attempts to stabilise.

“I think we have done marvellously well in the circumstances. Some other clubs are not doing what we are doing and they have full squads,” said Deacey.

Six players were not fit for last Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to leaders Brackley Town and to make matters worse vice captain and centre back James Knowles was injured in that game and could be out for four weeks.

Deacey added: “Any team would struggle with these players out and we still should have got a result against the side who are top of our league and haven’t dropped a single point yet.

“The five injured lads plus Matty James, who isn’t fully fit, and Michael Duckworth, who was in hospital last week with a virus, are all vital players for us.

“That means we have to play the younger lads week in week out and that is putting a lot of strain on them.

“You can bring players in but these lads will be back in a fortnight so we’ll battle through.

“I don’t want to be signing players just for the sake of it and then getting rid a month or six weeks down the line. The board have told me we can get a few players in if I think we need to but I don’t see the point.

“I will have all my top players back in October and we will push on from there. It is a long season and we have to be patient.

“The likes of Nathan Hotte, Adam Clayton , Jamie Jackson, Alex Davidson, Ross Daly, Knowlesy and Matty would be starting for most clubs in this league if they were fit.

“We have been very unfortunate in the centre back area and that is where you need you need to be strong.”

There are five very good central defenders at Horsfall Stadium: Knowles, Clayton, James Riley, Matt Dempsey and Amjad Iqbal but the crisis has been so deep that assistant manager Mark Hume has been on the bench as defensive cover in recent weeks.