Nikki Bull has revealed that there will be no fresh faces for Margate as he attempts to shake them out of their losing run in Vanarama National League South.

Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Hayes & Yeading was Margate's fifth successive league loss and their third in a row at Hartsdown, seeing them drop to 12th in the table.

Manager Bull had stated last week that he wanted to bring in some new faces in an attempt to re-invigorate his squad, but he says that is no longer possible.

Bull said he was unable to elaborate on the reasons, but speculation continues to grow that the club is about to undergo a change of ownership with chairman Bob Laslett said to be moving on.

The 34-year-old boss, whose own future beyond this season remains unclear, said:"It's difficult, I'm not going to dress it up any other way.

"There are no loan signings coming in, we've got what we've got and we've got to run with that until the end of the season.

"For the past couple of weeks we've certainly had players lined-up to come in, which I felt would have helped us push on and maintain a chance of getting into the top five, but those deals haven't happened and we'll be running with what we've got between now and the end of the season."

Bull named young duo Harry Phipps and Seb Rowland on the bench for the Hayes game and the likelihood is that other youngsters will get their chance as suspensions and injuries bite over the closing seven games of the season.

Midfielder Lewis Taylor and defender Jake Goodman are both banned for the weekend trip to 15th placed Wealdstone while top scorer Freddie Ladapo is due to play for Crystal Palace Under-21s against Leeds at Selhurst Park on Tuesday.

Greg Cundle is just over halfway through his 28-day loan spell from Gillingham and it remains unclear whether the 18-year-old striker would be able to stay on beyond that.

Bull, who it is believed has reduced the club's monthly wage bill by as much as £10,000, explained: "All I can do is work with the squad I've got and continue doing my best for the club. I just have to carry on working hard to try and get some results.

“First and foremost we need to get to 50 points as quickly as possible (Gate are on 44 at the moment). Teams below us are going on runs now and overhauling us so we need to get points on the board as quickly as we can. These games coming up are starting to get bigger and bigger.”