Garry Wilson gave a wry smile as 'Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside' boomed out from the Priory Lane tannoy after Eastbourne Borough's victory over St Albans City.

Wilson is desperate to strengthen his squad to cope with the extra demands of the Conference south but is struggling to attract quality players because of the club's isolated location on the coast.

Borough are so short of numbers at the moment they only had four players on the bench for the 1-0 win which saw them climb above St Albans in the table.

With club skipper Daren Pearce leaving for Littlehampton in midweek and Ollie Rowland injuring his hamstring in training on Thursday Wilson, was unable to rustle up a full compliment of substitutes.

Wilson said: "There is no doubt we are short of numbers and need another one or two on board.

"We can get players in easily but it is finding quality players who are better than those we have already got which is the difficult part.

"What makes it harder is the fact we are stuck out here on the coast because a lot of players don't want to do the travelling.

"We have talked to a couple of League clubs about getting players in on loan. The clubs are happy to let the players come here but the players want to go somewhere closer to them.

"We are isolated where we are because there are so many clubs in and around the M25 in the Conference south and that is where the good players are going.

"When you get to the level we have reached unless you pay over the odds then it is difficult to get good players because of the geography. If you do pay more then you have the problem that the players are just coming for the money.

"The financial side is not the problem because we have got plenty left in the budget it is just persuading players to make the journey."

Something money cannot buy was the main reason Borough claimed only their second win of the season against St Albans - spirit.

Borough were outplayed for the majority of the game but defended like Trojans to hang on to the 42nd-minute lead Richard Harris had given them from the penalty spot after Dean Hooper brought down Matt Crabb on the edge of the area.

The goal was a huge relief for a Borough side who have only found the net six times in eight games this season, with two of those coming from the spot.

They rarely looked like adding to that tally in the second half, even when St Albans were reduced to ten men for the last 15 minutes after Hooper was sent off for elbowing substitute Simon Rowland.

The visitors should have grabbed at least a point when Lee Clarke was left all alone in the area with nine minutes left but he fluffed a volley wide when he had time to control the ball and pick his spot past Lee Hook.

Wilson said: "We are happy to take the points but the performance was not good enough. We cannot expect to play like that and climb up the table.

"St Albans will feel they have been mugged but we have felt the same on a few occasions already this season. Lady luck was certainly smiling on us this time but it will even itself out over the year.

"Although we didn't play well we showed a lot of character to grind out a result and hopefully we will take some confidence from it for the next game."

That comes tomorrow when Welling arrive at Priory Lane fresh from a 6-5 defeat at Bognor and boasting the worst defensive record in the division after leaking 26 goals in their first eight games.

It should be the perfect opportunity for Borough's misfiring forwards - Richard Brady and Scott Ramsay have only one goal between them - to find their range although Wilson expects another tough encounter against Paul Parker's side.

"I was with Paul at a match the other day and he is bound to have a couple of new defenders in the side by the time they come to us," said Wilson.

"That shows how easy it is for teams like Welling to attract players compared to us but we can't change the situation so we've just got to get on with it."