Ross Laird in action onSaturday against Braintree Town Reserves.

A MUCH-NEEDED goal scorer is expected to sign for Saffron Walden this week as the team struggles to find the back of the net.

Bloods managers Colin Wallington and Nicky Smith revealed to the Reporter that they are hopeful of signing the services of Long Melford’s Dan Cann.

Walden flew out of the gate with 14 goals in four games but have struggled of late, scoring seven times in five games.

Wallington said: “We need a big striker up top who can hold the ball up and score goals. We’re missing that at the moment but Dan will give that to us.”

Walden’s lack of a a typical no.9 was evident on both Saturday and on Tuesday night.

At the weekend they crashed out of the Thurlow Nunn Division One Knock Out Cup after a 5-1 drubbing at home to Braintree Town Reserves. Peter Davies grabbed the only goal for Walden as Braintree exerted their superiority with the ball.

Walden were at least better on Tuesday night, against rivals Newmarket, in front of a bumper crowd of 219.

But in their search for someone to hold the ball up, defender Chris Reid was deployed up front. It looked to be a stroke of genius when Reid latched on to James Crane’s low cross to score within a minute - but that was all Walden could really muster of note in the attacking third.

The hosts were also overrun in midfield by a powerful Newmarket, leaving them to play desperate long balls in the hope Crane’s pace could create something.

Newmarket centre back, Matt Bonner, was commanding all night and grabbed a deserved goal from a corner to draw the teams level on 10 minutes. And The Jockeys took the lead 10 minutes later, Paul Betson turning in Aaron Maskell’s low cross.

The visitors could have added more in the second half but squandered their chances. Walden huffed and puffed meanwhile, without creating much in the way of clear-cut chances. The closest they came to forcing an equaliser was from Davies’ free kick which clipped the outside of the post late on.

After the game, Smith said: “It was disappointing because we didn’t play football. We were a bit desperate and tried to force things instead of building up attacks and using the wings.

“But we’re not a million miles from where we need to be – we just need a bit of tinkering. We’ll re-group and get back to playing football but the main thing is that we learn from it.”

Next up, Walden return to league action on Saturday with a trip to Downham Town, 3pm kick off.