Dagenham & Redbridge boss Daryl McMahon admits his squad’s injury record this season has been ‘a nightmare’.
Daggers saw Paul McCallum and Sam Ling go off inside half an hour at FC Halifax Town at the weekend to join other long-term absentees on the sidelines.
And with Wealdstone due to visit Victoria Road on Saturday – after a midweek date with Boreham Wood – McMahon says the situation is proving very tough.
“It’s been a nightmare,” he told the club website after the 2-0 loss at the Shay Stadium.
“We’re losing players, big players. [Angelo] Balanta, [Mauro] Vilhete, McCallum, Ling, [David] Longe-King – big, big players for us. [Nik] Tavares, who was excellent.
“And they’re not having an injury where they’re out for a couple of weeks, they’re out for a couple of months. [Elliott] Johnson, again.
“It’s been really tough in terms of the squad, it’s hard to keep patching teams together to go through, and I can’t criticise anyone’s endeavour today, everybody worked really hard.
“I can’t knock anybody for that, they put a shift in, they stuck together, they worked hard. But when you keep losing key players, it’s going to affect any team at any level.”
McMahon has already dipped into the loan market on several occasions this term to help plug gaps, with Tyreke Johnson the latest to make his debut for the club after joining from Woking.
“I thought he did really well and it wasn’t easy for him in the circumstances,” added McMahon.
“You bring someone in like Ty because of the amount of crosses he gets in for Paul McCallum, because that’s what Paul McCallum wants, and then Paul McCallum’s gone in the first half which is disappointing for us.
“I thought Ty performed really well and I’m sure he will be an asset for us.”
McMahon was hoping to make other signings this week, with an FA Cup trip to Maidenhead United coming up on Saturday week (November 5).
But he revealed how hard it can be to bring players to club and said they might have to stick with what they have for the time being.
“We’re hoping to. We’ve been doing it for a couple of weeks but it’s been difficult to get players in,” he added.
“It is hard at this stage of the season to get players in, you’ve got EFL teams that have got cup games and don’t want to let anybody out of their squad.
“Prior to the game we’re three points off the play-offs and we’re looking up the league to take some players off teams above us, that don’t want to give them to us, which I understand.
“Sometimes you’ve got to go with what you’ve got and keep working hard.”
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