DAVE Diaper will be recommending to the Sholing committee that the club do their utmost to remain in the Southern League next season.

As reported in last Friday’s Daily Echo, chairman/team boss Diaper is fearful that the Boatmen might struggle to sustain Step 4 football unless issues over ground grading and the development of their VT Sports Ground home are resolved.

But, having held a meeting with his players this week, the consensus from the dressing room was that Sholing want to remain a Southern One South & West club.

Diaper said: “We’ve worked hard to get into the Southern League and compete and, if we were to drop back out, we may not have the opportunity to get back in it again.

“I asked the players about it and the feeling is that the club needs the ambition and it needs that hunger, otherwise you just stand still.

“If we get the new facility, we can move forward. If not we’ll have to dig in and see what we can do.”

One of the big reasons Sholing moved back into the Southern League after last term’s FA Vase/Sydenhams Premier double was to secure more money towards the ground development.

“Unless you’ve got massive funding and investment, it’s going to take a while and we’re not hiding the fact that it’s going be a tough two or three years ahead in the Southern League,” he said.

“But we’ve got more chance of getting money in than we would back at Wessex level.

“All I can do now is recommend to the club committee that we stay in the Southern League. It’s up to them whether they take it on board, I might get outvoted yet.

“But I’m hopeful we can dig deep, work hard and try and generate funds. All this has been a weight on my shoulders and it’s nice to have a clear head again thinking we are going to be a Southern League club.”

Diaper, meanwhile, is trying to carefully manage his injured players.

Skipper Byron Mason should return for tomorrow’s 17th v 16th home showdown with Swindon Supermarine after resting a troublesome Achilles.

But Kev Brewster has a slight knee injury and may drop out as a precautionary measure, while centre-back Pete Castle, who missed much of the season after knee surgery, may make way for fit-again Mike Byrne.

“We’ve got to make sure slight knocks don’t become big knocks and we don’t lose players for a long time,” said Diaper.

“We’ve got a Russell Cotes Cup quarter-final against Horndean on Wednesday and I also want as strong a side as possible for the Hampshire Senior Cup semi against AFC Bournemouth’s development squad.

“League-wise we’re not going to go down and we’re not going make the play-offs, but we’ve still got two pieces of silverware to play for.”