AFC TOTTON ended a run of five straight defeats last Saturday – albeit that it was only a friendly.

With no league game scheduled, the Stags had a valuable 90-minute run-out against AFC Bournemouth’s under-18s with new defensive signing Stuart Mott and American midfielder Kyle O’Brien netting in a 2-2 draw.

“It was a nice way to keep our sharpness going,” said manager Steve Riley. “Hopefully it will kick-start us again and be the catalyst of an unbeaten run.”

While Totton’s recent form looks bad on paper, Riley – who leads his troops to Southern One South & West boys Bishops Cleeve tomorrow – insists results have not reflected the quality of their play.

“We’ve been unfortunate,” he said. “Our performances over the last month against sides like Hereford and Wimborne have been really good, but we’ve been dominating play without being able to put the ball in the net.

“Then we’ve switched off at key moments and been punished.

“We need to dig in, cut out the mistakes and make sure we stay in games.

“I’d like us to get battered and come away with a 1-0 win so the boys can know how other teams have been feeling.

“If we weren’t performing well or creating chances I’d be worried, but the performance levels are there.

“I’ve asked the boys to show resilience and to try relax in the final third and make sure the final pass and the final shot is there.”

Totton, 14th, have dropped a long way since the early-season high of topping the table with five wins from their opening six league games.

Inevitably, expectation levels soared, but the Stags are only just getting back on their feet after crippling financial problems and Riley said: “We’ve got to be realistic and not lose sight of where the club were two or three years ago.

“The days of having players like Jono Davies, Michael Charles, Mike Gosney and Carl Pettefer have gone.

“The lads we’ve got now don’t have much experience and they’re still a young bunch.

“Over the last month or so a lack of know-how has been our undoing, but the lads have been playing on the front foot and doing well.

“Sooner or later we’ll get a good result which will set us up for the Christmas games and, hopefully, come January we will be in a good place.”