Godmanchester Rovers boss Matt Clements has told his players to be prepared for plenty more battles in the weeks and months ahead.

Rovers were held to a third successive home draw when sharing the spoils in a 1-1 deadlock with Gorleston last Saturday.

Top-scorer James Hall levelled on the hour at the David Wilson Homes Ground for a Godmanchester side who remain second in the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division standings, but they have now slipped five points behind table-topping reigning champions Norwich United.

Clements said: “I’m certainly not going to panic about a run of draws, but equally we do need to address the fact we are dropping points at home.

“We are finding that teams are being direct, getting in our faces and turning games into a scrap.

“I can’t complain as those are exactly the sort of tactics I would be employing if I was an opposition manager.

“Word will have got around about the football we play and the number of goals we are capable of scoring, but the positive is that my lads are also showing me they can battle. We’ve had to stand up to other teams and have done that.

“The reason why we dropped points against Gorleston is our performance was poor, but I gave the players credit for still managing to get something from the game.

“We haven’t lost in the league since the opening day of the season and that is something we can be proud about.”

Rovers can be assured of two more tough tests to complete the month as they face Mildenhall on successive Saturdays. They hit the road for a league clash this weekend before entertaining them in an FA Vase first round tie on October 31.

The two teams have already battled out a 2-2 Premier Division draw at the David Wilson Homes Ground earlier this month in what turned into a clash of contrasting styles.

Clements added: “We can expect two more battles against Mildenhall on the next two Saturdays.

“We know what they are about and they are not going to change an approach which worked well against us a couple of weeks ago.

“But we will make the most of a clear week by working hard on the basics in training.”

Rovers made League Challenge Cup progress with a 4-2 success at lower-level Braintree Reserves last Tuesday thanks to goals from Austen Diaper, Tom Spark, Luke Seaber-Shinn and Hall. Their reward is another away date, at Long Melford, in the next round.