GEOFF Butler says he's surprised by defender Dave Goss's decision to reject a return to Bashley in favour of sticking with FA Vase winners Winchester City.
After losing Mark Jones to Winchester and Andy Darnton to Fleet during the summer, Bash boss Butler has been hunting high and low for a strong, central defensive replacement and felt man mountain Goss would be the ideal candidate.
The former Eastleigh centre-back appears to have dropped down the pecking order at Winchester City following the summer arrivals of Darren Powell from Wimborne and Mark Jones from Bashley.
He was an unused substitute for City in their opening win at BAT and was not involved in Tuesday's 6-0 demolition of Downton.
Butler pointed out: "Both Powell and Redwood were injured for the Downton game, so where does that put David Goss? If he was fourth choice out of four, where does that put him out of six?
"I thought we'd have a good chance of getting him, so I was amazed when he knocked us back and said Winchester still wanted him at the club and had told him he was very much part of their plans.
"When I said 'what are you going to do, play Wessex Combination?', he said 'Yeah, I suppose so.'
"I don't understand that when I'm offering him a higher standard of football than Winchester play in any case.
"I realise there must be a great spirit and camaraderie at Winchester after winning the Vase - and I admire his loyalty. But, realistically, how many games will he get?
"We were prepared to take him on but, if he doesn't want it, there's not much we can do."
Butler has also drawn a blank with his ex-Weymouth charge, Mark Kenway, so 19-year-old London-based def-ender Andrew Julius is likely to play again at home to point-less Dulwich Hamlet tomorrow, if available. Midfielder Dave Wakefield should be fit after groin trouble.
Mick Catlin is more worried about his growing injury list than Fleet Town's point-less start to the Ryman 1 campaign.
Although the CalthorpePark boss is bitterly disappointed that his new-look side have suffered first-week defeats by Hastings and Molesey, he can't fault the quality of their football.
But what does concern him is the queue for the treatment table ahead of tomorrow's visit of Tooting & Mitcham.
Frontman Richard Mealey limped off with suspected knee ligament damage at half-time on Tuesday and his replacement, Ed Smith, was also substituted after catching a stud.
"We thought he'd broken his foot at first, but it's severe bruising," reported Catlin.
"Even so, it could keep him out for a couple of games."
To add to the tale of woe, Fleet's former England international Andy Sinton lasted only 64 minutes before hobbling off with a pulled calf.
"They're three nasty injur-ies that'll leave us thin for Saturday," said Catlin.
The 1-0 defeat by Molesey was settled by a controversial goal scored, of all people, by Fleet's former frontline stalwart, Mark Frampton.
"I still can't believe we lost," Catlin reflected. "We missed a lot of chances and their goal was scrappy, which we didn't think had crossed the line.
"Our keeper had his body over the ball and the linesman was 40 yards away, but he just turned and ran back to the halfway line. The ref didn't question it."
Newport IoW go in search of their first Ryman 1 points at Metropolitan Police tomorrow after drawing blanks against Croydon Athletic and Horsham.
"Of course I'm concerned we've got no points, but I can't be too worried - we've just got to do the best we can," said manager John Linington.
"We'll be okay once we start getting a couple of results."
Defenders Simon Pilcher and Justin Hughes had their usual quota of bumps and bruises after Tuesday's 1-0 reverse at Horsham, but both should be fit to travel.
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