CHARLIE GRIFFIN insists his Cirencester Town team is now ‘taking shape’ having changed half his 16-strong squad since taking over as boss at the start of October.

Teenage winger Dam Demkiv has joined from Melksham Town, following quickly on from the arrival of striker Alan Griffin from Chippenham, but the need to keep his lean and mean squad within budget has resulted in his releasing Ross Langworthy, this season’s joint-top scorer.

“In 20th place in the league I can’t afford to be sympathetic and sometimes you have to make tough decisions,” said Griffin.

“Ross has been brilliant for the club and I appreciate all he has done, but Oggie and I wanted something different up top. My brother Alan has come in to bring a bit of strength and size to our attacking threat. He scored on his debut, could have had a couple more at St. Neots on Tuesday night and the ball sticks with him which wasn’t the case previously.

“Dan brings some serious pace as a wide player and a nice touch. I thought he did really well on his debut at St. Neots given that he didn’t even have a chance to warm up with the lads beforehand after our four-and-a-half hour journey to the game.

“I knew Dan had been released by Nuneaton – I think when Kevin Wilson was in charge – and he’s a local lad from Melksham.

“Tommy Wright, who I played with at Forest Green, became caretaker and then manager at Nuneaton and he was complimentary about Dan, who has also had a good upbringing at Southampton and Salisbury.

“He had started playing with another good friend of mine Darren Perrin at Melksham Town, having been on trial at Bath City.

“I’m not one who wants to rock the boat at other clubs and Darren has been brilliant as he knows that Dan wants to play at a much higher level. And if he does a good job at Ciren he may yet get his chance.

“He looked very sharp on Tuesday and Lidds (Mat Liddiard) was also a threat going forward until he had to drop into the back line again on Jack Challis’ injury.

“When Henry (Spalding) came on he looked very lively too and got into good positions. We created plenty of chances and Henry almost won it for us at the end. The team is now definitely taking shape.”