They have 11 games left to save their Ryman premier division status, but will have to play them with an assortment of regulars, work experience youngsters and even players borrowed for a game at a time.

A season of juggling the squad has taken its toll on the team, and injuries and suspensions have added to the difficulties faced by Darin
Killpartrick and Jamie Howell in selecting a settled team.

On Tuesday night, Howell had to come out of retirement as a second-half substitute in the Sussex Senior Cup win at Peacehaven because the only two first-team regulars on the bench were not fit.

And the Rocks team who came through an awkward tie in the fog against the county league division-one side included three men who the Rocks recruited solely for that game and who may not appear again.

Killpartrick saluted his players for their efforts in the face of such adversity, but said the make-up of the team for the rest of the campaign was far from certain.

They hope to find out by Saturday whether key injured duo Luke Nightingale and Michael Birmingham will be fit again soon and if frontman Jacob Walcott will return to Nyewood Lane once he is fully over a groin problem which has seen him return to Reading's academy.

Saturday's trip to Sutton followed by a visit to Hendon next Tuesday mark the start of an 11-game run-in which sees the Rocks need to
clamber out of the bottom four to avoid falling into division one south.

The manangement brought in midfielder Patrick Cox – highly-rated at the Lane after a decent loan spell last season – from Salisbury to play in the cup tie, and the Havant duo Matt Bremford and Craig Ralph, who played on the wing and up front respectively. Lewis Ide, Richie Hudson and Lewis Dunk were all cup-tied.

Killpartrick (below) said: "It's very tough at the moment. We seem to be losing players left, right and centre.

"On Tuesday, Jamie and I had to name ourselves and coach Pat Lawrence among the subs. Jamie had to go on.

"We were badly hit by cup-tied players at Peacehaven, so things should be better on Saturday. But we can't assume who will be available to us.

"The chances are we'll have to do more begging, stealing and borrowing before the season's out.

"Luckily we've good contacts with clubs like Reading, Brighton and Havant & Waterlooville and they've all been very good to us.

"Patrick, Matt and Craig all came straight into the team and did well, but I don't know if we will keeping any of them."

Killpartrick's mood has not been helped by criticism of the performance against
Aveley last Saturday, when Hudson's late penalty earned a 1-1 draw which gave the Rocks a return of seven points from nine.

Some supporters went on the unofficial messageboard and said the Rocks had shown no passion or urgency in a game that was the type of clash they needed to be winning.

The joint boss won't be losing any sleep over such broadsides. "I don't look at the comments," he said.

"The people who write them are not club or football-orientated people and they don't understand how football finances are run. They should go on an FA course to learn how to run a club," he said.

"But the vast majority of fans are very supportive and can see how our cohesion has come on in the past six weeks. We're giving our all."