Carl Stabler believes his Wick side can still challenge for this season's County League title.

Wick are currently sixth from bottom in Division One but Stabler says a bid for the championship can be mounted providing his side can start playing regularly again.

To emphasise his ambitions Stabler this week made a seven-day approach for Horsham YMCA striker Phil Churchill, who is the leading goalscorer in Sussex this season.

Stabler said: "We have had some problems with our overall play up front this season and Phil is a proven goalscorer. If we are to put in a bid for the title we have to do something quickly.

"I am desperate for a quality goalscorer. Losing Rob Grim (he went to Australia) was a big blow for me. Adie Miles signed for us but he seems destined to stay at Bognor for the rest of the season."

Despite their lowly position Wick still have 23 league games to play. They have an amazing 13 games in hand on Lancing, who are just two places below them.

Stabler said: "If we can win five or six on the trot, you never know. The interest comes back into it. At the moment the players have lost interest because it seems every other day they get a phone call from me saying the game is off.

"If we win all our games in hand it would put us five points behind Pagham with Pagham still to play. There is one thing for sure: we won't give up on anything."

Wick are not the only West Sussex club with high ambitions for the rest of the season.

Selsey this week signed striker Jason Reed from Langney Sports and manager Danny Hinshelwood immediately stated his desire to finish as high as possible in the table.

Reed, who has been struggling to secure a regular place at Langney, has joined on an initial one-month basis but could stay for the rest of the season.

He made his name at Selsey, sharing a 50-goal partnership with Paul Lee when Selsey were promoted to Division One. He now links up again with Lee, who has 21 goals this season.

Hinshelwood said: "It is a major boost for us to sign Jason. He was at Selsey when they got promotion. He and Paul Lee were profilic.

"With Ian Ford as well, we have three good forwards and there is also Darren Lowery, who is currently serving a five week suspension. I am delighted with his signing. He is experienced and you can see he has played at a higher standard.

"It will open up a few people's eyes that he is back at the club. It shows that we want to finish as high as possible this year and we want to do even better next year."