Manager Matt Clements insists St Neots Town boast a squad capable of climbing the Southern League Premier Division table.

Saints currently find themselves just two places and three points above the drop-zone after an indifferent start to the campaign.

They’ve managed just three league wins so far and have found the net only nine times, but they are not statistics which provide Clements with too much cause for concern.

His side have 10 league games between now and the new year - starting with a Saturday trip to Alvechurch, 3pm, which is followed by a home date against Needham Market next Tuesday (7.45pm) – and he is confident they can pick up plenty of points during a crucial spell.

Clements said: “We’re out of the FA Cup, we’re out of the FA Trophy and we’re out of the League Challenge Cup – now it’s all about the bread and butter of the league and making sure we climb the table.

“Defensively we’ve been good, but we have to be better in the final third. We have to correct the lack of goals to push up the table, but I know we can do that with plenty of hard work and a bit of luck as we have an exciting group of players.

“We have a proven goalscorer in Nabil (Shariff), we have a player who scored 17 times last season in Dylan (Williams), and we have other lads who we know are capable of both creating and taking chances.

“We’re just going through a bit of a dry patch at the moment, but I would be a lot more concerned if we were not making opportunities.

“I would also be a worried man if we were losing a lot of games heavily, but that hasn’t happened aside from the away fixture at Royston when we had one eye on an FA Cup a few days later.

“Football is all about fine margins. We could easily have had six points and a place in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy from our last three games, but we find ourselves with two league points and being out of the Trophy.

“I believe we have the tools and we are very close to kicking on, but it is something we need to quickly.”

Saints suffered a disappointing FA Trophy exit last Saturday when beaten 1-0 by 10-man Barwell at the Premier Plus Stadium in a second qualifying round tie.

That came hot on the heels of a goalless draw to Tamworth in their last league outing on November 6.