Matty Taylor is a loss in more ways than one

This might not be rocket science but the departure of Matty Taylor has been a huge blow.

Most obviously Forest Green Rovers recalling Taylor leaves Steve Burr with the same problem he faced when he first walked through the door: the team doesn't look like scoring.

But his absence has messed with the balance of the side and means the manager - who had struck on an effective formation - has to change things up in order to get the best out of the tools available.

Taylor could operate through the middle, on either flank or behind a main striker and his versatility meant he was a perfect fit for the fluid 4-2-3-1 the manager had been employing.

He was able to interchange with John Rooney and Craig Mahon behind Gareth Seddon and the ploy left opposition defenders unsure of who to mark and created buckets of space.

It doesn't look like anyone else in the squad can fill the role with the same effectiveness and that might have been what prompted Burr to switch to 4-4-1-1 on Saturday but losing Ross Killock so early foiled that plan.

Taylor being recalled has left the side short on pace and Seddon short on support. As suggested after the Dartford game, Seddon has been leading from the front but he looked jaded against Alfreton and needs more bodies around him.

What's the solution? I'm not sure and it's a tough conundrum. Craig Hobson coming in provides another option and Brendon Daniels or Jamie Menagh could be worth a shout.

There is no obvious replacement and, as the manager points out, bringing in a striker of Taylor's quality at this stage of the season is likely to prove near impossible.

Lady Luck isn't on our side

Teams in trouble often point to bad luck as contributing to their plight but it would be misguided to suggest that as a reason for the Blues' struggles.

Put simply, performances have not been good enough and that is in part down to the squad being short on quality and in part down to some players failing to deliver.

But it remains a fact that the Blues have been hard done to on occasion with dodgy decisions and unfortunate injuries making life more difficult.

Ross Killock tore his hamstring inside the opening 20 minutes on Saturday forcing the manager into an unplanned reshuffle.

Killock - despite a barmy post on Deva Chat suggesting otherwise - has been excellent over the season and being without him for the next three weeks or so is a major blow.

Kevin McIntyre lasted for 16 minutes in the 3-1 loss to Welling United and Joe Heath limped off 21 minutes into the 1-1 draw at Lincoln City so the evidence shows luck has not been smiling on the Blues.

Throw in the controversial red card shown to Jason Jarrett against Nuneaton Town, the two disallowed goals at Macclesfield Town and the debatable penalty decision on Saturday and it might be easy to feel hard done to.

But that's not something the Blues can afford to do and I'm sure that's the message the manager will be giving to the players because no team has ever been relegated by bad luck.

Reasons to be positive remain

It was hard to tell on Saturday but it shouldn't be overlooked that Alfreton are one of the strongest teams in the league and the win lifted them to second place before a three point deduction bumped them back into third.

For the best part of an hour the Blues had more possession, created more openings and looked the better team.

It was concerning to see the confidence drain away from the players once Alfreton went in front and the last 30 minutes was pretty torrid stuff but let's not beat the players up.

Since Burr came in there has been a marked improvement in performances and, more importantly, results.

Two consecutive defeats have dented that progress but nine games remain for the players to prove they are good enough to survive.

Burr believes in taking one game at a time and that is the most sensible approach but those of us watching from the stands are able to speculate and calculate on what will be needed to meet that objective.

With 39 points on the board and six teams - perhaps seven if the club 12 miles down the road keep on sliding - in contention for three relegation spots the Blues are still in a decent position with five home games to come.

Honest.