Ottery St Mary manager Dave Fairweather is desperately seeking new players to bolster his squad at Washbrook Meadow.

The Otters are tasked with a visit to Lakeside tomorrow (Saturday) for their latest Scott Richards Solicitors Devon League North & East fixture.

This season has been a tough one so far for the Otters, who have played nine league games and banked just four points.

The Ottery boss is clear as to what the problem is this season. He explained saying: "Availability coupled with a desire are central to our current woes. You simply cannot expect to do well if (a) you don't train regularly, and that's been an issue with the recent weather, and (b) you have the sort of availability we have suffered this season."

He added: "We are set to begin regular training on the all-weather surface at the Royal Marine Camp, Lympstone and I'd like to think that this coming Tuesday's first session up there will spark the beginning of a new dawn in terms of the weekly training sessions. It's a pet hate of mine that we seem, at our club, and I know it's a view shared by a number of managers, an attitude of 'I don't need to train and am going to be OK rocking up on Saturday ready to go. But that does not work! Ideally we'd have everybody training in midweek.

"Now, I accept that players do have other priorities, but, as a team, if we do not prepare together then we are not going to enjoy any sort of success together."

As to his urgent need for new recruits, the Ottery boss says: "I am seeking a centre back, a central midfielder and a centre forward and would be delighted to hear from anyone in the area and indeed across East Devon who might like to come along and join us. OK, a player might look at the current league table and maybe think that the team is in the doldrums, but we have everything in place at Washbrook Meadow to be a success. All we need is a couple of additional players and I think you'll see us climb the table."

For tomorrow's game at Lakeside, the Ottery boss was already without James Gosney (injured), Adam Brooks, Tom Purdy and Sam Pyne (all unavailable) and Corey Ringer (suspended) and that was before he might learn of any other absentees at last night's training session!

The Ottery boss has not been helped, in terms of getting continuity, by the stop-start nature of the season so far. The Otters have not played at home since September 7 when they defeated Plymouth Argyle FITC 2-0.

It all means that with postponements and away fixtures, the next home game, set for next Saturday (November 30), will be the first at Washbrook Meadow for a period of eight weeks.

The Ottery Development team were 4-0 winners last Saturday in their home meeting with Dawlish.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the Development team, who are up to sixth in the Division Eight table, travel to Dawlish for a swift return meeting.