STUART Ritchie agrees with Dave Diaper that Sholing have more strength in depth than Zamaretto South & West promotion rivals AFC Totton.

In the build-up to tomor row’s heavyweight clash at Portsmouth Road (Wednesday,7.45pm), Sholing boss Diaper said last week’s Red Insure Cup dress rehearsal between the clubs – which his Boatmen edged 2-1 – was an indicator that his side have more in reserve than the Stags.

He pointed to the fact that while unbeaten league lead ers Sholing had the likes of Kevin Gibbens, Tyronne Bowers and Barry Mason just watching from the side lines, Totton had big names like Mike Gosney and Nathaniel Sherborne warming up as substitutes.

Whether Diaper’s com ments were a deliberate attempt to spice up tomor row night’s game, only he will know, but Ritchie was not taking the bait.

“I think Dave’s right,”

said the Totton boss. “I’d have to agree with him that they’ve got a bigger squad than we have.

"They’ve got a larger budget than us and they have the luxury of being able to pay some of their reserves.

“They took (young strik er) Darren Morris off us and offered him money, which meant we couldn’t keep hold of him,” he claimed.

“Also, we tried to sign Lee Wort from them during the summer, but we couldn’t match the money they were offering him.

“I’m a bit concerned about the size of our squad at the moment – we’re thin on the ground. We badly need Mark Osman back from his knee injury, but he can’t play at 98 per cent, he’s got to be 100 per cent.”

*Full story in today's Southern Daily Echo.