Lancaster City have a big defensive crisis ahead of home game against Matlock Town

​The Dolly Blues manager has spent the vast majority of the campaign firefighting against a seemingly endless tide of injuries to key members of his squad.

Earlier in the campaign, City’s casualty list was approaching double figures at one point and while that has eased slightly in recent months, more bad luck struck during Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw at Radcliffe.

Influential defender Jamie Mellen came off in the first half with a groin problem, while captain Andrew Teague faces an operation and up to two months on the sidelines after breaking his arm in the second half.

It is the second time this season that the pair have faced a spell on the sidelines with Mellen dislocating his shoulder last year while Teague has been troubled with a knee problem.

To add insult to injury, City are already without long-term injury victim centre half Patrick Allington while fellow defender Calen Gallagher-Allison – on loan from Burnley – dislocated his ankle at Hyde United in November.

If there was one positive from the draw against Boro was the performance of Jake Connelly, who inspired a City fightback after being brought on as a substitute with 20 minutes remaining when they were 2-0 behind.

Connelly scored and had another ruled out for offside but he is set to miss all of next month at least as he is due to undergo long-awaited hernia surgery shortly.

Fell – who missed the game at Boro after being diagnosed with Covid-19 – will have to delve into the transfer or loan market to ease his side defensive shortage.

"Teaguey is going to need surgery on his arm,” said Fell. "Finding replacements at this point is terrifically difficult. The club has been very clear that finances are an issue at the moment at the club.

"I am going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to find what we need. We have obviously got Pat Allington out injured; Niall Cowperthwaite, who could play centre half, is injured at the moment and he’s the only one who could come back soon.

"No doubt it’s been my toughest season. I had really high hopes at the start of the season.

"The only thing I probably got wrong was expecting a really new side to hit the ground running, but in terms of the injuries, I have never known anything like it.”