Ian Concannon has defended Didcot Town’s disciplinary record, despite having three players unavailable for tomorrow’s Calor League Division South & West game home game with Mangotsfield United, writes Matthew Bruce.

The Railwaymen entertain the Division 1 South & West high-fliers without Pablo Haysham, Kameron Abbassi and Luke Carnell.

Striker Haysham is three matches into a seven-game ban and is joined by Abbassi and Carnell, who are both suspended after picking up five bookings each.

Abbassi will also miss a further three games after his dismissal for violent conduct in Tuesday’s 4-1 defeat at Tiverton Town, ruling him out until the new year.

Joint boss Concannon said: “The referee said it was violent conduct, but I know there was no intent to do any harm and there was no contact made so it should have been a booking, if anything.

“We’ve lost Pablo through an accumulation of red cards and I certainly felt that the two which I’ve seen were very harsh.

“There’s no issue with discipline here, our players never go into challenges looking to hurt people.”

Didcot are also without Lance Williams, who is away in Barcelona.

Concannon said that he and joint boss Jamie Heapy may turn to the transfer market to fill the void.

“That’s four key players we’re missing, but we’ll bring others in and this will be a chance to stake a claim,” said Concannon.

“We’re hoping to speak to a couple of players about coming to the club and we’re hopeful that we can do a deal, but until the ink is dry, nothing is certain.

“We’ve brought Joe Parish back into the side after a spell with the reserves and with the new additions I’m sure we’ll be strong.”

Didcot Tn (v Mangotsfield Utd, home): from A Williams, J Parish, S Parish, Elkins, Barnes, Longford, Mills, Whitehead, McKirnon, Thomas, Thorne, Janes, Beesley, Heapy.