The departure of Ralston Gabriel won’t see Ian Allinson desperately search for a direct replacement.

The St Albans City manager feels it would take an extra-special player to improve his strike force and with loan deals favouring professional clubs, he feels it would be an unnecessary risk for the club.

He said: “At the moment I won’t look for another striker. I think we need some cover defensively with Tom Bender being out.

“I’m not going to break my neck to bring another forward in and I don’t think we’re going to be in a position to bring in one who’s better than what we’ve got.

“We may have to look at the loan market but when you do, we’re in a situation where the parent club, which is probably the pro club, will charge you one fee for playing and another for not playing and usually that fee is much higher.

“And if the player is not up to the standard or better than we’ve got then we are crossing a dangerous bridge.

“We will have to pick the right person but it might be one that comes off the bench and helps us rather than starts.

“Everything seems to lean one way at the minute with the pro clubs. They seem to have the advantage.

“It would be wrong for me to bring somebody in and if I don’t play them it costs the club more money than usually.

“If there’s a player in the lower leagues again who we think can improve us then we’ll have to look at it.

“And we will be looking.”