Harry Redknapp's pleasure at seeing his Portsmouth side reach the next round of the FA Cup today was tempered by the knowledge that it will stretch his squad even further, and with just a week left of the transfer window, he is still searching for reinforcements.
Two goals from Matthew Taylor were enough to see off a spirited Scunthorpe United team, despite a late flurry, but with Aiyegbeni Yakubu away for a month at the African Nations, Redknapp is desperately short of strikers.
Portsmouth took Hungarian Attila Tokoli on trial this week, but Redknapp admitted that: "We have a ridiculous situation here and I need to get a couple of strikers in. How can we go on with only one forward?
"I was stood outside the hotel in Spain at 4am yesterday morning ready to get a flight to Madrid and then back to training. It was throwing down with rain and I just thought 'what am I doing here?'
"I was thinking would Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger be doing this?" One target for him is American international striker Landon Donovan, and chairman Milan Mandaric is trying to use his contacts in the USA to work out a deal.
"He's a possibility but our only hope is the people our chairman knows in America. I'm hopeful though," said Redknapp, who is flying to Greece tomorrow, looking for other potential signings.
He admitted that their victory today had not come easily against lower division opponents: "It was difficult and when they pulled one back late on and threw balls into our box, anything could have happened."
Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws said that a missed chance for Paul Hayes just after the break had been crucial: "Paul was clean through and should have scored," Laws said. "You have to take your chances and that showed the difference between us and the Premiership side.
"But I thought we were the better side in the second half and if we perform like that in the league, there's no reason why we can't move up the table. And, without doubt, I'm delighted with the performance and very proud of this club.
"Our lack of experience showed because you can't let a player like Teddy Sheringham have that sort of space in the 18-yard box," he said. "But, that apart, we did really well and took the game to them."
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