Braintree Town manager Alan Devonshire will keep trying to get in fresh faces to bolster his squad until the loan deadline closes at 5pm on Thursday, but there are two targets who won’t be coming to the Amlin Stadium.

The Iron boss is looking to make changes at both ends of the pitch after a run of three defeats that have seen his team concede 11 goals and score just one, including a 5-1 hammering by Wrexham in the Blue Square Bet Premier on Tuesday.

Devonshire said he needed to freshen up his squad after that defeat, but his attempts at Thursday lunchtime hadn’t borne fruit.

He said: “We had a couple of deals all done and agreed with the clubs, but the lads involved decided to turn the moves down.

“They were with Football League clubs and were a striker and a defender.

“But we’ll keep on trying until the deadline and if I can’t get anything sorted, I’ll go with what I've got.

“We have lost our last two league games to teams who are the top two in the table and our next league game is against Forest Green, who are fourth.

“It was always going to be a tough spell, but I’m confident the players here now can turn it round.

“We had heavy defeats last year – I remember us losing 5-1 to Forest Green at home – and we came back OK, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it this time.”

Braintree’s next game is an FA Trophy first round tie against Blue Square Bet South side Havant and Waterlooville at the Amlin Stadium on Saturday.