AFTER our 6-1 home defeat by Gillingham the previous Saturday, there was a lot of work to do before we went to Cheltenham last weekend.

Players and staff were bitterly disappointed with the result.

The first thing we did was to sit down and watch the first half because there were some positive things which came out of that – we played some good football at times but were not ruthless in either box.

Then it was a matter of getting our heads down and getting to work again.

Fortunately, we had a free week, so we had plenty of time to do that.

We worked on our defending for the majority of the week and that just got us going again and gave us something to build upon.

The fact that we do not have any midweek games now for a period gives us time to work on things.

If you are playing Saturday- Tuesday-Saturday, as we have been, and picked up a number of injuries, it is very difficult to get any sort of continuity going.

Training becomes a matter of looking after the players and so there has been a spell when we have not been able to do a great deal with them in terms of phase work but there is now some respite for the next few weeks.

The players are responding very well; it has been in the press that the players are behind us in what we are doing and I think that shows.

It showed in our commitment and work rate against Cheltenham and our desire to keep a clean sheet.

Now we have to move on and build on that togetherness and that belief that we are doing the right things.

As long as the players are behind us then we definitely have a chance.

Confidence is a huge feature in any sport – just look at Tiger Woods and the way he is playing at the moment. It is a massive part of the game and when you have confidence, things become easy and fluent.

Once you reach that stage, it makes the manager’s job easy.

The table has taken one or two surprising turns with Dagenham and Barnet, who both have very experienced managers, plummeting.

That just goes to show what a tough league it is.

Cheltenham manager Mark Yates said that you could not pick a team in the division at the moment where you would say you would go into the game and definitely get a win.

There are plenty of good quality sides down near us and, looking up and down the table, there is not one single easy game in it for any side.

The game against Oxford this weekend is one to look forward to.

Hopefully, they will bring a good number of fans and we will get a good atmosphere inside Edgar Street.

Believe it or not, we have been playing good football – we have conceded too many and not scored enough but those are things we are addressing and we will keep working at.

Once we have two or three wins, and a few goals, under our belts then we are more than capable of going on a run of games where we win a few more.

And once we do that you suddenly find yourself up and around the mix.

But first and foremost, we have got to keep some clean sheets and we have got to start scoring some goals.

Once we start doing that, then the points will start coming in.