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Thursday, November 06, 2008, 08:00
That's the honest view from manager Lee Patterson as his side take on two out of form Blue Square South sides, Weston-Super-Mare at home this Saturday and away to second from bottom Basingstoke Town a week later.
"We've managed to start to haul ourselves up the table and we are now five places and 11 points off the play-off places and that has to be our target," said Patterson. "We must pick up six points from these two games to stand a chance of keeping up with the others.
"It's consistency we need now because we've not had the best of starts in the league having lost seven games which I'm disappointed with," he declared. "We must also stop any complacency creeping in when it comes to playing teams down at the bottom and thinking it's going to be a breeze."
This was a worry for Patterson on Saturday when the Iron went to play bottom club Bognor Regis and put in a disappointing first half display but recovered to score two goals in the second period and win.
"We were terrible in the first half and they could have taken the lead had they had any decent forwards," he said. "But we had a sort out at half-time and were a completely different outfit in the second where the players worked their socks off, took control of the game and could have easily scored three or four goals.
"But the players have to learn the lesson that no matter who you are playing you have to start in the right frame of mind from the first whistle.
"Hopefully we've now got that message through to the players and they can put some consistency together."
Patterson confirmed that they were trying a different approach to training this week, adding: "We are trying to develop them as a group of players into a consistent and winning team and hope they will learn from we do with them."
Patterson, who confirmed he's still trying to bring a young defender in on loan from a Football League side to give extra strength and cover the back, has the bonus that Andy Porter could be back in action in two weeks.
"He's seen a specialist and we now know what's been the cause of his injury so hopefully it's now being sorted and he will be back ready to play," added Patterson
Iron have been drawn at home to Farnborough Town in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy later this month and Patterson admits it won't be an easy game.
"At least it's a home tie and I know it will be a tough game because although they are from a lower level they are a decent side, are playing well and have been getting the results," he said. "But the players will have learned the hard lesson from our FA Cup defeat at Kingstonian and won't want to repeat it and neither do I."
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PROGRESS: Andy Porter could be back from injury within the next two weeks.
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