LAVERSTOCK and Ford manager Liam McConnell still feels his side will finish a lot higher in the Wessex League Division One than the 12th place they currently occupy.

McConnell said: "For me, I want to see us reaping the benefits from the hard work invested so far, it's clear to see they are competitive and always in with a fighters chance and with the league being as open as I've seen it in the five years I've been here, I'll be interested to see where we are come the new year and beyond."

This Friday, Laverstock are next in action on Friday night when they face a visit from Andover New Street.

Looking back on the campaign so far the Lavvy boss said: "We are a third of the way in and upon reflection I certainly feel we have missed out on more points to this point.

"I was pleased with our start, we were proving hard to beat and in fact that's still the case as you can see by the closeness of the losses we've encountered but our problem is simply we're not as clinical as we should be right now.

He added: "Certainly creating plenty of chances but we just need to find our ruthless streak and with the talent at our disposal I am confident it won't be long before that happens.

"The injury to Graham (Mankin) was obviously a blow but we were ready for that, defensively we have had a real structure about us but it's the missed chances the other end that have cost us points.

"It heaps pressure on the back line when you can't score but saying that, there is no faulting the players efforts or work rate.

We've adapted formations and personnel to suit the strike force whilst trying not to effect our defensive strengths and it's clear we are almost there."

Laverstock have added to their squad over the past few weeks as Tyler Brockway has rejoined from Amesbury, as has former club captain Tom Mundy.

Charlie Blake has also come across from Amesbury and Sam Dorrington has returned, but suffered an injury before his first game back and is almost fit to return.

McConnell said: "We've had our fair share of injury set backs but also the suspensions we received in particular the triple three match ban for key players has hurt us but we have to just knuckle down.

The players have responded well to training and along with our youthful reserve side continue to build, seeing James McSorley and Owen Mussell make their senior debuts this season has been refreshing and continues to spearhead our 'giving youth a chance' policy."