Hitman tops Stags wishlist
7:38am Thursday 10th April 2008
Walton Casuals can do great things next season provided they pick up a goalscorer in the summer - so says their manager Luke Dowling.
Dowling watched his side hold promotion-chasing Tooting & Mitcham on Friday, and he remains convinced that had he found a suitable replacement for Craig Carley, who left for Met Police, they would have been on the fringes of the play-offs themselves.
He said: "We have had people scoring goals but no one who is going to get us 20 to 25 goals in a season.
"To be honest, we have never replaced Craig but we were never going to be able to match the money the Met were offering.
"If we can bring in a couple of new faces, we are a top-10 side, maybe even looking at the play-offs, in my opinion."
Greg Ball scored for the Stags on Friday before Paul Vines grabbed a late equaliser.
And Dowling insisted the fact they more than held their own proved the strides his side were making.
He added: "I thought we were the better side and the players should take a lot of credit for that.
"It is frustrating to draw again but, when you play a team like Tooting, it is not a bad point."
He urged the Stags to take that form into their final games, starting with a visit to Chipstead on Saturday.
Dowling added: "It is the teams around us that we should be beating. If we can achieve that, this team can become a very good one."
Remaining fixtures: Apr 12 Chipstead (a), 19 Worthing (h), 26 Leatherhead (a), Ashford Town (a) - date to be confirmed.