BY the time Warrington Town start their festive fixtures, manager Paul Carden will hope to have been given the gift of extra bodies in his squad.

With injuries already troubling several squad members ahead of games against neighbours Witton Albion today, Boxing Day, and Bamber Bridge on New Years’ Day, Yellows have now been hampered by two suspensions.

Having been sent off in Saturday’s 4-0 defeat to Morpeth Town, both Bohan Dixon and Mitch Duggan will serve three-match bans.

Suspensions in the BetVictor Northern Premier Division do not come into effect until seven days after they are incurred, meaning the duo are clear to face Witton at Cantilever Park but their bans will start at Bamber Bridge.

Furthermore, Dave Raven, Steve Jennings and Josh Amis all struggling with injury while Alex Byrne was allowed to leave the club to join Buxton last week.

It all means Town are down on numbers as they seek to end a run of three matches without a win.

“There’s less games this Christmas but it’s catch 22 – without having more games you don’t get the suspensions out of the way quicker,” Carden said.

“We’ve had key players missing all season and we’ve got key players missing now through their own poor decisions.

“We’ve got to get on with it but obviously, we’re going to have to bring some players in.

“We’ll assess where we’re at and make sure we’re ready for this period.”

While Yellows may not have won this calendar month, Saturday’s heavy defeat in Northumberland was their first in the league since October 19.

It also ended the division’s only unbeaten away record and put a stop to Town’s fine run of not losing a league game away from Cantilever Park since January 12.

Carden has urged his side not to dwell on what happened at Craik Park and instead learn lessons from it.

“We have to draw a line under Morpeth and move on. We can’t affect it now,” he said.

“What we can affect is making sure that we learn from it.

“In 2019, we haven’t had many defeats on the road and that was the first one of this season.

“We’ve now got to make sure we limit those defeats, learn not to give officials decisions to make and take note of how games are being played.”