MARK Collier knows it will take at least six weeks before his side are firing on all cylinders after he watched his injury-hit side succumb to Weymouth on Tuesday night, writes MATT EDWARDS.

Despite taking the lead through skipper Greg Tindle in the Southern League Premier Division clash, the hosts were pinned back and a late penalty from Luke Ballinger was not enough to salvage a point.

Collier, who had new loan signing from Swindon Town, Matt Jones at his disposal, was still plagued by injuries but took plenty of positives from the defeat to a side he predicts will finish inside the top four this season.

“We did very well going forward but unfortunately we gave ourselves a lot to do through some poor defending,” he said.

“I think the players showed some fantastic resolve against a side that I expect to be in the top four or five come the end of the season.

“I can definitely take a lot of positives away from the match and if we cut out the small errors it might have been a different result.

“I know we are not far away from where I want us to be and I expect us to be in a better place in a month to six weeks.

“We don’t seem to be getting the luck at this stage of the season but we just have to remain positive and it will come.

“We can’t sit and feel sorry for ourselves because nobody else will, we have just got to get through this difficult period.”

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