DARREN Manning will be forced into reshuffling his defence when Hullbridge Sports take on Felixstowe & Walton United tomorrow.

Right-back Courtney Homans and Emmanuel Okunja were shown late red cards in the controversial FA Trophy extra preliminary round defeat to Barton Rovers last time out.

But Manning insists he has enough cover.

The Sports chief said: “We will have to make changes to the back four.

“The two suspensions after the late red cards against Barton are not ideal, but we will have to get on with it.

“A few changes will be made and I’m pleased with the strength of my squad, so I have no problems bringing some players who have not been getting so many minutes into the team.”

Hullbridge are enjoying their first ever campaign in the Isthmian North, having been crowned the Essex Senior League champions last term.

As a result, Manning admits his 14th-placed side are going into the unknown against Felixstowe, who are 15th in the standings.

“I don’t know too much about them,” added Manning.

“When I look at the teamsheet for their most recent games, they don’t have any players I am familiar with and so it’s difficult to judge them.

“But that could be seen as a good thing as you can sometimes overthink the opposition and change how you play.

“Not having a midweek game has been good because that has allowed us to get the boys in and work on a few bits.

“It’s been a while since we were able to do that.”