WORCESTER City manager John Barton reacted to Saturday's woeful 2-2 Nationwide North draw with Ashton United by insisting new blood was needed to re-ignite the club's promotion bid.

Lowly Ashton stormed back from two goals down at St George's Lane and seemed certain to glean all three points but for the heroics of City goalkeeper Danny McDonnell, who pulled off six terrific stops in the last half-hour.

Barton, sat in the stands for the second of a four-game touchline ban, was totally dismayed with City's display over the course of 90 minutes and laid the 'awful' performance squarely at the feet of his players.

He claims that City's second-half capitulation was an accident waiting to happen and admits the Robins should have wrapped up victory in the latter stages.

Barton now believes the time may be right to dip into the transfer market to strengthen his squad and increase their chances of booking a play-off spot.

However, given the club's tight financial budget on the playing squad, Barton would have to move on current players to bring fresh faces in.

Barton said: "The situation is crying out for a few new faces and that's been the case for a few weeks. I've been well aware of that and I would like to try and freshen things up.

"Being in a position to do that is another question. That's not me shifting the burden because I know the situation of the football club. We have not got enough available players and it is not a case of adding to the squad, but a situation of one out, one in.

"I want to do that but shifting them around is very, very difficult. I know where I want to strengthen but I'll keep that to myself."

Barton added: "I thought the warning signs were there first-half (against Ashton). I was not fooled by what went on.

"I'm sitting in the stands watching it and I was uneasy about what was going on. I had a feeling that what happened in the last 30 minutes could have happened at any stage during the game.

"It was awful, let's not kid ourselves. I think if we had been in Ashton's position, we would have felt very disappointed not to have won the game. We would have lost but for Danny.

"It's totally about players and about players' performances. The responsibility lies at their feet. At times it looked as if they had more players than us."