Burgess determined to keep the spirits up at Diamonds

It’s been a poor start to the new campaign for Diamonds with just two points on the board from the first seven matches in the Southern League Premier Central while they also suffered an Emirates FA Cup first qualifying round exit at the hands of Step 5 side Enfield FC.

Burgess was forced to put together a new-look squad at Hayden Road over the summer following the departure of a number of key players after Diamonds missed out on a play-off place on the final day of last season.

But it has been a real struggle for the team so far with their poor start leaving them at the foot of the table.

Even at this early stage, Diamonds face a huge game this weekend as they head to fourth-from-bottom Barwell.

And Burgess has admitted confidence within his squad isn’t exactly high at the present time,

“I’m not going to lie to anyone, everyone is a bit down,” the Diamonds boss said.

“I believe everyone is fighting, I believe everyone is on the same page in wanting to do well and wanting to work hard.

“I have said to them after every game that I can’t fault their work-rate and effort but we just need to be better with that now.

“We need to channel our efforts into the small details.

“Confidence isn’t high, I’m not going to say it is. We have had a really difficult start to the season but we are trying to keep the players engaged, motivated and positive.

“It’s not easy because we are going through a tough time too but we have to deal with it, stay positive and give the players the confidence and belief they need.”

Diamonds’ last league action was over a week ago when they were beaten 2-0 at Stratford Town.

They were without a game last weekend due to that early exit from the FA Cup so Burgess opted to give his players a run-out in a friendly at Stamford on Tuesday night where he also ran the rule over some trialists as he bids to strengthen things up.

Diamonds lost 2-1 with Jenson Cooper scoring their goal in the second half.

But Burgess felt the game “served its purpose”.

“It would have been 10 or 11 days between games so we felt it was a good opportunity to go into a decent environment at Stamford and play a decent side, which was the case,” he added.

“It was good to get 90 minutes into a lot of lads who haven’t had that.

“There were a couple of trialists as well, people we are looking at. We are trying to strengthen and bring bodies in and that gave us a good opportunity to see them in a match situation because it’s totally different from seeing them in training.

“It was a good exercise. The result was what it was. It served its purpose well and I was pleased with the outcome of it.”