BROMSGROVE Rovers boss Rod Brown admitted he was disappointed to lose Carl Slater, after the midfielder opted to rejoin Gresley Rovers.

Slater made four appearances for the Greens since joining from Gresley in November, but turned out for the Unibond Division One South side over the Christmas period to maintain his match fitness.

Brown believes personal circumstances may be behind the 27-year-old’s decision to return on a permenant basis.

However, the Greens’ manager has no immediate replacement lined up for Slater.

He said: “He lost his job before Christmas and I don’t know whether travelling to us became a problem.

“I have to say he is very pro-Gresley and I think when you have been at a club for a long time it can be hard to get used to someone else’s style.

“He came in and did okay, and I like the lad a lot because he is my kind of player.

“I think he would have got better once he had settled down.

“I don’t have another player like him in my squad.

“He is a younger version of Snapper who gets around and breaks things up.

“All my other players in that area are ball players.”

Rovers face the long trip to AFC Sudbury on Saturday in BGB Midlands One and with the recent succession of postponements Brown admits his players are still playing catch-up on their match fitness.

He added: “We couldn’t do too much training because of the pitch.

“We have got a difficult run of games and we will do the best we can.

“Hopefully once we get playing again we’ll get back to where we were.”

Following Saturday’s trip to Suffolk, Rovers host Bedworth next Tuesday in their first home game since November.