MANAGER Carl Heeley is “100 per cent certain” Worcester City will have new players on board for Saturday’s trip to Colwyn Bay.

The Blue and Whites have seen their numbers depleted in recent days with centre-half Graham Hutchison joining Halifax and left-back Connor Gudger signing for Leamington.

However, Heeley says he remains happy with his defensive options and is instead looking to add more firepower to the squad.

A deal to bring Telford striker Andy Owens to the club on loan fell through last week but at least one attacking player is set to arrive on loan before the weekend.

“We will have some more players in the club by the next time we play at Colwyn Bay, absolutely 100 per cent certain,” the Worcester boss said.

“We have got another two or three irons in the fire and I’m virtually certain they will come to fruition before the next time we play.

“They are predominantly attacking players we are looking at. They will be loan deals for at least a month but they could well be for the rest of the campaign.”

City, whose match against Gloucester City was postponed due to a frozen pitch last Saturday, remain the second lowest scorers in Conference North with just 28 goals from 26 games.

Owens, 25, looked set to swap Conference strugglers Telford for Aggborough but commuting from his Liverpool home proved the sticking point.

Heeley explained: “We’d agreed to take Andy Owens from Telford on loan for the rest of the season but he’s Liverpool-based and even though we’d come to an agreement on the training, he decided it wasn’t practical for him.”

Despite seeing Hutchison and Gudger leave, City still have Wayne Thomas, Jacob Rowe, Aaron Brown and Shabir Khan for the centre-half berths, while Shabir, Danny Jackman and captain Ellis Deeney can all operate at left-back in the continued absence of Tyler Weir.

However, Thomas is due to serve a two-game ban for 10 yellow cards, meaning he will miss Saturday’s match in North Wales.

The former Stoke defender will also be ruled out of the Worcestershire FA Senior Cup semi-final against Redditch United on Tuesday.

Striker Daniel Nti also misses the Colwyn Bay encounter with a one-match suspension following his sending off for two bookable offences in the 3-0 defeat at North Ferriby United.

Meanwhile, Deeney has been included as part of 14-man contingency squad for England ‘C’s friendly fixture with Cyprus Under 21s.

Although the City skipper has missed out on the main squad, his efforts have been rewarded with a place on the back-up list.

The Three Lions are due to face Cyprus in Larnaca on Tuesday (1pm, GMT).