STEVE Shaughnessy should be back in his natural position of striker for his team's UniBond One home match with Gretna on Saturday.

The Winsford United manager played himself as an emergency centre half alongside midfielder David Lowe as he faced a squad crisis like no other at Ossett Town on Saturday.

He explained: "I had nine players in the morning because of suspension and injuries. They were dropping like flies, so I had to play centre half."

Shaughnessy had managed to secure the services of David Mayes on Friday night, who returned to the Blues from Bamber Bridge.

But Neil Morley was declared unfit the following morning, although he still had to fill a place on the bench, and two loan deals Shaughnessy had lined up fell through.

Mike Lomax should be back on Saturday, but he was suspended at Ossett, while Kevin Langley and Chris Bermingham are both nursing longer term injuries.

The Blues boss had to raid his Manchester roots on Saturday to bring in Peter Lee from Cheadle Town to complete the squad line-up.

It may have sounded like a nightmare for Shaughnessy, especially as he scored an own goal in his team's 3-2 defeat, but he was surprisingly buoyant following the game.

"The new formation I was forced to play worked very well," said Shaughnessy. "It was two individual mistakes which cost us. I scored an own goal but it ricocheted off my foot and could have gone anywhere and David Lowe was caught in possession for the first one.

"We hit the bar and the post and had four one-on-ones so it's testament to the players how well they did in a patched up team.

"We showed spirit and fight and no-one had their head down even though we've not won in six games."

The return of Andy Burns from holiday and Lomax from suspension could spare Shaughnessy having to play at the back again for the Gretna match, which kicks off at 3pm.

But if he wants to play a five-man defence again he may have to stay in defence because United's other centre half Steve Hibbert, having just regained full fitness, is now unavailable at weekends due to work commitments.