Boss Alan Dowson says the absence of Bash Alimi and Mo Harkin has left him scratching his head for a ball player in Kingstonian’s midfield.

Dowson signed Wales U19 international midfielder Reece Jones from AFC Wimbledon on Thursday and also added 22-year-old former Brentford trainee Ivailo Dimitrov to his squad on Friday.

Their arrival had little affect as Ks crashed 2-0 at Ryman Premier League play-off rivals on Saturday to see them slip to fifth in the table.

Alimi is expected to be sidelined for another fortnight, while Harkin is struggling with a calf injury picked up on-loan at Walton & Hersham.

Jean-Sylvain Dossou has headed to Blue Square South Lewes - on dual registrations - to get game time and Dowson admits he is short of quality in the middle.

“With Bash out for a week or two, Mo still struggling and Dossou needing games we are a bit short in that area,” he said.

“Terry Brown was looking to get Reece out on loan so we did a deal. It will be good for us and good for him, because he needs games and we need someone in that position.

“Ivailo has done well in training and the friendly at Sandhurst, so we'll be looking to give him a chance.

“We need Bash and Max Hustwick in there because at the moment we haven’t got anyone who can pass the ball.

“We tried hard at Cray, but the midfield were non-existent and we didn’t look like we were going to score goals from open play.”

Ks are six points behind league leaders Sutton United, but are clinging to a top five spot after an inconsistent run of results over the last month.

But Dowson is not worried about the slide.

“I’ve said it before that I’m not thinking about the league table. We’ve just got to starting winning games,” he added.

“I’ve got get a side together to do that and that is what I’ll do.”

Kingstonian’s next three games: Jan 29 Carshalton Athletic (h), 31 Concord Rangers (h), Feb 6 Croydon Athletic (h).