Ian Culverhouse is fighting a unique battle at King’s Lynn Town – naming a team for the next game before rebuilding his squad for the rest of the season.
The Linnets head to Woking with the same squad which did so well to draw 2-2 at Notts County – with the addition of Kyle Callan-McFadden, who was suspended in midweek.
But then he will begin to assemble a new squad from what is left after another four players are placed on furlough, to join the six - Adam Marriott, Dayle Southwell, Sam Kelly and injured trio Aaron Jones, Rory McAuley and Alex Brown - already on the scheme.
The first move to bring in reinforcements came on Friday when Bolton Wanderers defender Jak Hickman, 22, joined on loan for the rest of the National League campaign. He will be available for the game at Wealdstone on Tuesday.
Behind the scenes there is a delicate financial balancing act to be sorted while, front of house, Culverhouse has a jigsaw puzzle to solve, with new, less expensive, pieces set to appear in the next few days.
That problem is exacerbated by some injury problems which would be testing in normal circumstances, let alone these exceptional ones created by matters outside of Lynn’s control.
Cameron King and Sonny Carey – both excellent in recent weeks – are injury concerns. King didn’t reappear for the second half on Tuesday, while Carey was struggling with a calf problem.
“He (King) felt his abductor – we have got to look after him,” said Culverhouse. “We’re not going to flog him that’s for sure because he’s a major weapon for us.
“Carey and Kingy are playing at a real top, high level at the moment. And the thing is they are enjoying their football. Once you are enjoying your football, and they want to come in and they want to play, the world can be their oyster.”
Defender Chris Smith played on after a bang on the left shoulder, which he dislocated in October 2019, while Ross Barrows looked to still be struggling with a hamstring issue.
However, there was some silver lining for the Linnets boss after the Meadow Lane battle.
“I must say Tai Fleming – 18, 19 years of age - he was amazing,” said Culverhouse, after his side came from 2-1 down at half-time to snatch a point in in time added on. “Very, very good.
“Michael Clunan in midfield as well - I could go through them all, they were outstanding. He (Clunan) took the game by the scruff of the neck and got us settled again on the ball and that was our good periods, when we are settled on the ball and we pop it around and we find little spaces and combinations we are a good side, a very good side.”
That is what will be so frustrating for the manager – that having seen his side play one of the pre-season promotion favourites off the park at times, he now sees a wrecking ball taken to his squad to ensure its survival.
“I think Jurgen Klopp used one when he went ‘boomph’ and that was one of those, that was unbelievable, what a performance,” he said.
He will need another big performance at Woking, who are 18th in the table, two places and three points ahead of Lynn.
The Linnets are unbeaten in three games while Woking – who have former Lynn winger Jama Loza in their ranks – will need to improve on the 1-0 defeat to 10-man Altrincham in midweek, a performance manager Alan Dowson described as “shocking”.
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