Arran Duke has admitted he needs to bolster his squad after Wisbech St Mary were sent to their fourth consecutive defeats in all competitions last weekend.

The Saints raced into a two-goal lead over Halstead thanks to Jack Mockford and Jack Friend, but the Suffolk side fired back with five unanswered goals.

That defeat means St Mary are now hovering over the Thurlow Nunn First Division drop zone and Duke says their poor recent form is down to an ever-growing injury list.

“As a squad we were really stretched at the weekend,” he said. “We have lots of injuries and one or two were playing with knocks.

“We knew it was going to be a tough day and it was. We are needing additions to the squad and fast.

“We took the lead but conceded very quickly after that and ran out of steam in the second half. Fair play to the lads that were out there on Saturday in a tough situation.”

Duke’s men will look to get back on track on Saturday with a win over Diss Town at the ABC Quality Meats Stadium (3pm).

If St Mary can find their first win since mid-October, they will draw level on points with their Norfolk-based opponents.

“We will be working hard over the next few weeks to get things right,” Duke added.

“It may mean changes in and out but we will get ourselves back to where we should be performing week in, week out.”

One player to leave the club is forward, Joe Woods. The frontman signed for the Saints in 2015 but has crossed Fenland to join rivals March Town.

Elsewhere, St Mary’s reserves needed extra time to book their place in the next round of the William Coad Intermediate Cup.

Cottenham United held the Saints to a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes, but the Fen side found the net twice in the additional half-an-hour.

Aaron Wright, Ethan Goodale and Harley Hollis were St Mary’s goalscorers.

The club’s ‘A’ team, however, was sent to a heavy defeat in the Mead Plant & Grab 2B Division.

Thomas Crowson notched for Wisbech St Mary but that was as good as it got in their clash with Ramsey Pavilion, who ran out 6-1 winners.

The ‘B’ team also lost heavily. They were defeated 4-1 by Burwell Tigers in the Mead Plant & Grab 4B.