Havant & Waterlooville gained from one loan player and lost out on another prior to Saturday's 2-2 home draw with Stafford Rangers.
Half an hour after doing a deal with Portsmouth to take goalkeeper Chris Tardif for a month, they got a call from Brighton & Hove Albion recalling midfielder Shaun Wilkinson, who had just started a second month at Westleigh Park.
With regular 'keeper Gareth Howells joined on the injury list by Bobby Howe, Neil Champion and David Town, H&W suffered yet another setback when they lost defender Aaron Skelton after 50 minutes through illness.
All things considered, a draw was not a bad result, but victory would have put Hawks top of the Dr Martens Premier and co-boss Mick Jenkins admitted: "Not too many of those who came into the side grabbed the opportunity as they should have done. One or two were found wanting which is disappointing when you've got aspirations to win the league."
Chukki Eribenne twice gave H&W the lead and twice they were pegged back by Daniel Davidson. Eribenne's first, on seven minutes, came via a through ball from Skelton, and his 77th-minute second was a penalty awarded for foul on James Taylor which saw the offender, ex-Wolves defender Wayne Daniels, sent off.
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