ERNIE Howe says he is hitting his head against a brick wall as he tries to change the fortunes of his struggling side.

The Basingstoke Town manager is keen to bring new blood to the club but is having no luck trying to attract players to join his Conference South play-off hopefuls.

The Camrose outfit have suffered five consecutive defeats and the boss is fully aware he needs to freshen things up, having seen his team slip from second in the middle of December to currently lie eighth.

Howe said: "I spent all day on Monday on the phone trying to get players and I thought I had one, until he was given a better offer by his own club.

"It is very frustrating. If I am honest, it is down to money, and some of it being asked by players at this level is ridiculous.

"I had a number of one-to-one meetings with the players on Tuesday night at training and it became clear that a lack of competition for places is not helping us.

"I have never known it to be so hard to bring players in, but we will keep plugging away and working at it and hopefully something will happen."

Howe feels his side needs strengthening in all areas on the park, as they are conceding goals as well as not scoring them and failing to create chances.

One player definitely not on his way back to the Camrose is former Town top goalscorer Craig McAllister, who returned to Eastleigh recently after ill-fated spells with Conference sides Stevenage and Gravesend.

Howe said: "The return of McAllister was never on the agenda. We just can't afford the money he is on."

Town's boss insisted he would continue to try his hardest to bring in some new faces for tomorrow's game, which is one of the toughest trips of the season - away to second-placed Cambridge City.

Since these teams met at the Camrose in October, when Town won 2-1, the fortunes have been contrasting as Cambridge have moved firmly into the play-off picture, while Town have slipped out of it.

The Basingstoke manager will be forced to make one change tomorrow to the side that lost 2-0 to visitors Eastbourne last Saturday.

Influential Argentinian midfielder Sergio Torres serves a one-match suspension, having collected five yellow cards this season. This will force the boss to reshuffle his midfield.

Howe may keep faith with loan goalkeeper Andrew Little, who made his debut against Eastbourne but was at fault for the first goal after making a couple of great saves.

Regular shot-stopper Scott Tarr is now free to play after missing last week's game due to suspension, but has not trained all week as he has been away with his work.

Howe said: "I will wait until before the game to make a decision on who I play in goal.

"Losing Torres means we will have to look at our options and go from there.

"At the moment, any game for us is going to be tough, but we just have to go to Cambridge and look to scrape a result."