HEYBRIDGE Swifts boss Jody Brown wants his side to pose more threat up front - and has described their lack of firepower as a “standout problem”.

The Ryman League side played plenty of attractive football but rarely looked like scoring in Wednesday’s FA Cup first qualifying round replay at AFC Dunstable.

George Cole netted in the closing stages but it proved merely a consolation and the hosts secured a 2-1 victory.

Afterwards Brown admitted he has to find a way to make his side more ruthless - either within the current squad or by bringing someone in.

“I always felt we’d have a lot of possession, but the question mark was whether we’d be able to score,” said the Swifts boss, whose side have a division north match at home to Walthan Abbey tomorrow.

“We haven’t got a striker at the moment and we’re playing without a centre-forward.

“It shows and needs to be addressed.

“We keep the ball and play nice football, but does anyone want to have a shot or go past a player?

“Our lack of firepower has cost us in the cup and it will cost us in the league, if we don’t do something about it.

“You don’t ever see a successful team at this level without a prolific goal-scorer.

“So much of the game is decided by mistakes from centre-backs and you have to be able to capitalise.

“We haven’t got that someone who’s going to do that.

“We play so much football – little one-twos and triangles – but you need a player with that instinct to chase balls behind and go and score goals.

“It’s a stand-out issue for us at the moment. Where are the goals going to come from?

“Either someone currently in the dressing room needs to step up and take on that challenge and get the goals or we need to bring someone in and that comes down to me.

“We’re playing well and I don’t want it to start costing us points.”

Brown admitted it was a tough night against physical opponents.

On two occasions the game had to be halted because of brawls in front of the Dunstable dug-out.

Incredibly, no-one was sent off.

“It was a hard place to go,” said Brown.

“We’ve got a young team and it was a baptism of fire for them, having to deal with such physicality and ill-discipline.

“How none of their players were sent off I’ll never know.

“We had three players booked for next to nothing in the first half, but after that I saw four punches, three or four players being strangled and two-footed tackles.

“It was an intimidated environment but hopefully our young players will bottle it up and learn how to deal with these situations.

“It’s now sour grapes on my part but it’s one aspect of the game that has to be discussed.

“We couldn’t get any flow or momentum in the game because the game kept having to be stopped for a foul or off-the-ball incident.”

Dunstable now have a home tie against Hampton and Richmond Borough.

Sky TV commentator Martin Tyler, Hampton’s first-team coach, was watching at Creasey Park on Wednesday night.

“I won’t use the cliché that we can concentrate on the league because we were desperate for FA Cup success,” added Brown.

“It was in our clutches but we just couldn’t pull it off, which is a real pity.”