Alan Devonshire hasn’t ruled out getting in a loan player to bolster his Braintree Town squad but the Iron boss admits he may not need one.

Braintree have suffered a string of injuries to players in recent weeks that have restricted Devonshire’s team selection options.

He said last week, ahead of their 3-1 Vanarama Conference Premier defeat at Gateshead, that he may look to bring in a loanee.

However, he said that he has some squad members coming back to fitness and may not now need to add any extra faces.

Devonshire said: “To be fair, I tried to get someone in but it didn’t happen.

“He may be available this week, but I don’t know yet if I’ll go for it.

“We’ll see what comes up, but I don’t want to get someone in just for the sake of it.

“I’m not saying ‘yes we will’ but then I’m not saying ‘no we won’t’.

“I’m hoping that one or two will be back for Saturday.

“Dan Sparkes, Sean Marks and Remy Clerima will all be there or very close and I’ve now got Charlie Strutton back in full training.

“We’ll see how he goes in training but it should only be a few weeks now and Matt Paine is also only about two or three weeks away so things are looking better.”

Braintree will look to bounce back from the defeat at Gateshead when they host Southport at the Amlin Stadium tomorrow.

The visitors will be looking to impress new manager Gary Brabin after he was appointed this week as they try to lift themselves away from the Conference Premier drop zone.

Devonshire added: “They have a new manager so you’d expect a bounce from them and they also had a good win at Grimsby in their last away game.

“There are no easy games in this league and that’s been shown before, but we will be back at home this week where we’ve only lost against Chester this season.

“I’ll look to freshen it up against Southport and we’ll look to attack them.”