No need to panic say Common

The Commoners have lost their last three games in all competitions and have conceded six goals in both of the last two.

Player-manager Russell Eldridge said: “We are struggling a little bit at the moment, but there’s no panic. You win a couple of games and all of a sudden things are okay again.

“I think it’s a mental thing at the moment; we’ve got to be a little bit mentally stronger. I’ve got faith within the group and hopefully they will start to show me that back.”

Scoring goals has never been a problem for Common, who are the third highest scorers in Sussex County Football League Division Two with 39 strikes in 14 games.

But keeping them out at the other end is very much an issue because only the division’s bottom three teams have conceded more than the 33 goals Common have let in.

“I don’t think we’re making teams work hard enough to score their goals at the moment,” Eldridge continued. “Leaking goals is our downfall and that’s something we’re addressing as we speak; not necessarily by bringing in players because we want to make sure they’re the right ones, but we will be working hard to rejig things.”

The good news for Common is that they are still in the top six and only five points outside the top three, but they need to quickly recapture the form which earned them a third place finish last season and brought them 22 points from their first 10 games this term.

Common will hope that the visit from fifth-bottom Storrington tomorrow (Saturday) will give them a good chance of getting back on track. Common’s last league victory came in the reverse fixture on October 12 when Lewis Hole scored the only goal.