Huntingdon boss Seb Hayes faces a fight to keep hold of star talent Declan Rogers.

The Town skipper is a man in demand with higher-level local rivals St Ives Town and United Counties League Premier Division table-toppers AFC Rushden & Diamonds both slapping in approaches.

Rogers snubbed a host of offers to remain at Jubilee Park during the summer and Hayes hopes that will be the case again.

He admitted: “We are doing all we can to keep Declan.

“He is our captain and he knows how valuable he is to Huntingdon.

“He is a top-drawer player with a terrific attitude and you’ll never get anything worse than a seven-out-of-10 performance from him.”

The moves for Rogers come with Huntingdon in the midst of a slump. A team who won their opening nine league matches have tasted victory just once in the last seven games.

Hayes acknowledges their recent form leaves them vulnerable to approaches for their better players and he also appreciates a need for a rapid upturn in performances after a dismal Boxing Day 3-0 derby defeat at the hands of Eynesbury.

Hayes added: “We hit rock-bottom on Boxing Day and the only way is up from here.

“The chairman made it quite clear that he won’t tolerate any more performances like the one against Eynesbury and I fully understand that.

“Everyone is working hard to turn it around. I was out watching two games last Saturday to have a look for possible new recruits and the players will be training twice this week, including on New Year’s Day.

“We know we have quality in the side, but we need to put in the hard work to allow that to shine through.”

Huntingdon travel to Sleaford on Saturday before hosting Newport Pagnell next Wednesday.

Hayes is confident of capturing Peterborough Northern Star utility man Danny Barker later this week and admits more approaches for prospective new recruits will follow.

He is particularly keen to strength his defensive and midfield options.