CARL Macauley acknowledges that Witton Albion are not scoring enough goals although he says finding a solution is not straightforward.

They created enough chances to be out of sight during the first-half against Stalybridge Celtic on Tuesday before their guests rallied to prevail 3-1 after cancelling out James Foley’s opener.

The Northwich side posed next to no threat after the interval, and with it squandered an opportunity to win a game in hand on their rivals to and climb the Northern Premier League’s Premier Division table.

“We need more going forward,” the manager told the Guardian.

“It’s there, and of course we can see that.

“I’d like to bring in a striker, but that’s not an easy position to fill because lots of other clubs are trying to do the same.

“We’ll keep looking, but in the meantime we need to help ourselves.”

There have been goals from midfield – Foley’s spot-kick against Stalybridge increased his tally for the campaign to eight while Smart has weighed in with four – and Macauley will demand that continues.

Rob Hopley has four goals to his name in Premier Division fixtures, but Albion's tally of 13 from as many matches is one of the lowest in the section.

However they ought to have been further in front before Matty Wolfenden levelled midway through the first-half in midweek.

"We probably need to be more ruthless,” added Macauley.

“There were occasions when we could have scored a second [on Tuesday] and that would have killed them off I think.

“We didn’t, and that’s a shame because we did everything right in those first 20 minutes.”

Albion turn their attention next to an FA Trophy meeting with AFC Rushden & Diamonds, opponents they beat on three occasions when they were league rivals two years ago, at Wincham Park on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.

And Macauley, who has permission from Altrincham to select on-loan defender Liam Goulding if he wants, has promised changes.

He said: “We expect a difficult game, and it’s important we improve.

“They watched us [against Stalybridge] and in the first-half we showed them what we’re capable of.

“However they’ll have seen our sloppiness too and that will give them hope they can go through.”