TIVIDALE boss Ian Long is desperate to bolster his forward line on the eve of the new season.

Long is concerned that his team doesn't possess enough firepower for their first campaign in Division One South of the Northern Premier League.

The team's attacking threat has also been weakened by the loss of striker Nathan Waite to Chasetown.

It is now an issue Long wants to rectify ahead of this weekend's first game away at Lincoln United and next Tuesday night's home match against Coalville.

He said: "My biggest worry going into the new season is that we will struggle to score enough goals.

"It is a major concern but one that we are working hard to put right.

"I have been making calls and drawing up targets and am determined to get someone in as soon as possible. If we don't get them in time for this weekend then they will hopefully be available for our first home game.

"We have some good forwards but I think we need just a bit of extra quality at this level.

"I have been impressed with Jordan Archer during pre-season and Lewis Taylor-Boyce has given us extra options. However, both Matt Jukes and Naveed Arshad have been out for long spells with injury and are only just coming back.

"Defensively we are strong and it's great that Zak Foster has returned from Rushall Olympic."

Long, who takes over as the sole manager of The Beeches outfit after joint boss Stuart Scriven stepped down, thinks his team will face a difficult task as they look to stay in the league.

"It is an exciting time for everyone connected to Tividale but it is going to be a tough ask to stay up," he added. "We are going to have to fight all season and I've made sure the players are aware of that.

"Staying in this division will be a bigger achievement than winning the league last season, especially with the budget we have compared to other clubs at this level.

"The players are capable of staying up but we will have to fight all of the way to make that happen."