CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mike Cook reckons he had spoken to more than a player a day over the course of the last month before bringing in Alex Bray and Luke Russe to the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium.

Former Swansea City and Forest Green Rovers man Bray signed following the termination of his contract at Hereford FC while Luke Russe is on loan from League One side Bristol Rovers until the end of the season.

The pair joined Swindon Town loanees Luke Haines and Scott Twine as Cook’s four incomings since taking over as manager on January 14.

The Bluebirds boss says he will continue looking for ways to improve the club’s chances of survival in National League South and is happy to wade through more players to find the right ones.

Cook said: “The chairman said he will be making some funds available, and hopefully he can see with people like Alex Bray and Luke Russe are good quality players.

“Any new player has got to be better than what we’ve got otherwise there is no point bringing them in.

“But to get those two players even, we’ve probably spoken to 33 or 34 players over the last month.

“A lot of them have said: ‘no, I’m not interested, I don’t want to get into a relegation battle.’

“That’s disappointing for me, but then again they’re probably not the sort of characters I want in my team.”

Bluebirds’ new players all played their part in a 1-0 win over Maidstone United on Saturday.

Manager Cook knows his team has a long way to go to ensure they play another season at this level however, and admitted he does not look at the table because it ‘petrifies’ him.

He said: “I’m petrified every time I see us down the bottom.

“But we obviously won at the weekend which was pleasing.

“But I’ll only be happy once we’re truly safe. There is a long way to go still and we’ve got 13 games, but we’re on the right track, definitely.”