DAN Bateman is confident his Wokingham & Emmbrook side can turn things round despite their tough start to the season hitting a new low on Saturday.

The Sumas slipped to a 4-1 home defeat to Brackley Town Saints, leaving them with just four points from their opening 11 Hellenic League Premier Division games.

And on a difficult day for the club, Bateman's injury-hit side was forced to play the final 25 minutes with only 10 men after George Parsons and James Clark were injured, the Sumas only having one substitute available.

However, the manager told the News: "This group of players, they haven't gone from good to bad overnight. I've got every belief in the players in the squad but we need to be better all over the park. Our confidence is on the floor and we just need to pick ourselves up.

"I do think if we can get one win, then we can get two and give ourselves some confidence. Even little things like scoring first would make a difference, you could see how deflated we were after the first goal.

"We'll stick together and I'm confident we'll get results."

Bateman was without 10 players due to injury and unavailability against Brackley, but his side competed bravely throughout the contest and were ultimately punished for individual errors.

And Bateman admitted: "The way things are going for us it's fine lines. The first goal was a mistake and that happens.

"We grew into the game and then we literally had an open goal, and within 20 seconds we're 2-0 down.

"We worked really hard to get ourselves back into the game and Luke missed a chance but that can happen to anyone.

"We need to learn how to take a punch. We missed a chance and straight away it was 2-0 so it was a double whammy.

"In the second half I felt we were getting back into it and then I've lost George (Parsons) to an injury and then James (Clark) as well. You can't play with 10 men in this league."

He continued: "Availability is killing us. We won the league below last year and we haven't got anywhere close to putting that side out.

"This is such a demanding time of the season - we started five weeks ago and we've played 12 games. I've got injuries galore as well as holidays and it's just so difficult."

Wokingham & Emmbrook visit Ascot in the Challenge Cup this Saturday and Bateman is looking forward to the derby.

He concluded: "The cup gives us a little bit of a respite from the league. We've got a bit of a break from the league and hopefully we'll get some of the injured players back."