Bad fourtune for Town

BAD news comes in fours for Dinnington Town boss Steve Toyne.

Along with losing a quartet of influential players to other clubs, Town have been beaten in the last four games.

Dachi Khutsishvili, Ant Lynham, Grant Allott and Simon Mirfin have all left the Phoenix Park club for pastures new, and as Toyne admits – pastures greener.

“You can’t blame players for going elsewhere when they can pick up hundreds of pounds, or even 30 or 40 quid in these tough times,” he said. “Any side losing players of that quality will be affected.”

Adding to Toyne’s woes is a seemingly ever growing injury list, with star midfidler Matt Smith breaking his collarbone, captain Andy Sykes picking up a knee injury, Greg Ramsden pulling a hamstring and Jamie Roper injuring his foot. Toyne said: “It happens to all clubs, but what we’re going through is unbelievable.”

“We’ve had six goalkeepers this season, we’re very thin on the ground and I thank God that we picked up three wins in a row recently, or we’d be in trouble.”

Toyne, who is awaiting an operation on his spine, hopes the club’s supporters will rally round in Dinnington’s time of need.

“We need to assure the supporters that we’re doing our very best, against teams paying out vast amounts of money,” he said.

“I did expect us to be doing better than we are, but I didn’t expect the heart to be ripped out of the squad - maybe I should have, with my experience.”

On Saturday Toyne’s men, who sit 15th in the Northern Counties East League Division One table, visit Yorkshire Amateur.