BRAINTREE Town are hoping to have a new central defender in place ahead of their Vanarama National League trip to Southport on Saturday.

The Iron lost the services of George Elokobi, who was recalled from his loan spell by parent club Colchester United, ahead of their 2-2 draw with Bromley on Tuesday.

They also lost fellow centre-halves Jon Ashton to a calf injury in the warm-up for that game and Jake Goodman to a hamstring problem after 13 minutes.

And with Ian Gayle also carrying an injury that kept him out on Tuesday, assistant Iron boss Hassan Oktay said manager Hakan Hayrettin would be working hard to bolster his squad ahead of the trip to Southport.

“We’ll definitely be looking because we don’t expect George to come back,” said Oktay.

“Good luck to him because Colchester pulled him back, but it was hard for us.

"However, the Gaffer is out there looking for a centre-back.

“At the moment, we have a centre-back (Danny Rumens) there who is 18 years old.

“He had his first game at this level against Bromley and it was a big ask for him.

“He did well, but can a young player keep doing it week-in week-out?

“There has to be a question mark over as it is difficult for a young player to do.

“So we are out there looking.

“The Gaffer is always out there going to under-21 games and doing his job fantastically well.

“He can get someone in and hopefully it will be by the weekend as we need another centre back.”