ANTHONY JOHNSON insists that Chester’s ‘unprecedented’ injury crisis will not prompt panic buying in the transfer market.

The Blues joint-manager has made no secret of his desire to recruit attacking reinforcements, following injuries to Matty Hughes, Akwasi Asante and Anthony Dudley.

With no senior striker available for last weekend’s 1-0 home defeat against Curzon Ashton, 17-year-old forward Lloyd Marsh-Hughes was handed his first start.

Though pleased with the teenager’s performance, Johnson says that efforts to recruit added firepower are ongoing - but that any deal must be financially viable for the club.

“Sustainability is the key word really,” he said.

“We’ve got ourselves into a decent position for this stage of the season and if the club decided to put up big money for us to bring in a proven goalscorer then great.

“But that’s short-sighted and would be selfish of me and Bernard (Morley) to demand that.

“It would mean that we’d have another big earner on the wage bill fighting for a starting place when all our injured players start coming back into contention again.

“For us it’s about bringing in the right player at the right price - but only if the right individual is out there.”

Chester, who head to high-flying Spennymoor tomorrow, have recorded just one victory from their last six league matches, slipping to seventh in the table.

A lack of goals has been at the root of the problem, with the Blues netting just three times in that sequence.

But Johnson maintains that the goalscoring burden is shared collectively among his squad and is confident the club’s recent signings will deliver.

He said: “I think the main strength of the squad we have here is that it’s a fantastic unit from front to back.

“There’s a good balance in this squad and we have players in various positions who weigh in with their share of goals.

“Maybe we have lacked a focal point to spearhead our attack in the last few games, but we know we have a threat from a variety of sources on our day.

“Dan Mooney’s on eight goals for the season, Simon Grand at centre back gets a few and the likes of Craig Mahon will contribute half a dozen or so in a season.

“We actually played alright in both games against Guiseley and Curzon, and we’ve certainly tightened up defensively, but we have have struggled for goals a bit of late.

“I think that’s as much to do with the fact we’re in a bit of a transitional period now.

“We’ve brought in the likes of Bradley Jackson, Sean McAllister and Ben McKenna and it’s a bit of a mish-mash in terms of the team we’ve been putting out.

“The quality to find the net and to win games is here, we know that.

“But while we are light on forwards it’s important that we find a way to impose these other attacking strengths on the opposition.

“That has to be the priority until eventually we have the bodies back in and we can get back to something like full-strength again.”

Former Chester youngster Tom Crawford, meanwhile has made a loan move to Fylde from Notts County for the rest of the season.

The 19-year-old, who made 17 appearances for the Blues last term before joining County, said: “Just to come here is a fantastic opportunity for me to get football.”