SHOCKED Steve Claridge admitted he's disappointed with the attitude of one striker who has been absent for two of Salisbury FC's critical opening games.

The Whites manager asked Mark Ford to be available for three matches but said he couldn't because of work commitments.

However, Claridge said he later discovered Ford had been in attendance at a Weymouth match when he said he was unavailable.

That hole in the strikeforce meant Claridge, who had main-man Ashley Jarvis still serving his second game of a three-match suspension, had just one centre-forward available in Sam Wilson.

The restricted set-up contributed to Whites' 2-1 home defeat to Whitchurch United as they remain seeking their first win in the Wessex Premier.

"Mark Ford has let us down very, very badly," Claridge told JournalSport.

"I'm not going to put this down to Mark Ford but he hasn't done it properly.

"When someone says something to you three days before the season starts, and then you find out it's not true, then it's disappointing.

"He says he has got work commitments and yet I've asked him to be available for three games, to see us through the three games and he couldn't do that.

"Yet he's played for another team and watched that other team play on Saturday! He couldn't make it for our game at Brockenhurst. I don't understand that."

As the Journal went to press, they tried to contact Ford but he was unavailable for comment.

Claridge, though, is looking to bolster his squad and add to the newly-signed keeper Nathan Ball, full backs Harrison Hale and Charlie Blake with Amesbury-based Robbie Matthews.

The former ace can play in either a central defensive role or in attack, and is someone Claridge is watching closely.

He added: "He's in the frame."

"Robbie will give us something we haven't got, a presence. It would have been handy to have someone like that on Tuesday, just to give us another option.

Roared on by 806 fans, which is believed to be a record-breaking attendance in the Wessex League, Whites had Whitchurch penned in their own half for 30 minutes.

Kane O'Keefe finally headed home the opener, and the club's first competitive league goal, in the 37th

minute.

But the lead lasted just seven minutes as Daniel Phillips pounced on defensive slip-ups to net the visitors' first chance on goal.

And late on in the second half, Phillips struck a winner.

Claridge added: "They've had three shots on target all game and they score two of them - it's frustrating.

"Stick with us, we'll be fine. We're in the perfect storm!"

Salisbury return to the pitch on Tuesday night at Andover Town (7.45pm).