BRACKNELL Town manager Geoff Warner says he will continue to show confidence and trust in his team despite seeing them crash 7-2 at Ware last Saturday.

But he has warned his players they must stop giving away gift goals and conceding penalties if they are to end their winless run in the Bostik League.

The Robins have now gone seven South Central Division games without a victory, a sequence comprising five draws and two defeats.

“Last week we had spoken about not giving away goals like we had in previous games,” said Warner.

“Unfortunately, we did it again on Saturday and we were unable to get out of it this time after managing to draw previous games.

“It’s very fine margins. Just one more goal in our favour or conceding one fewer would have made all the difference.

“We haven’t won a league game since early November, but we are still in the top four in the table, so we haven’t fallen away that much.

“Even Marlow (last week’s leaders) lost on Saturday.”

Warner is happy with his side when they are going forward, but clearly the Robins have problems in defending, as this was an error-strewn performance against Ware.

“They scored seven, yet they didn’t create many chances for themselves. They got their goals from our mistakes,” added the manager.

“We moved the ball around quite well, had a lot of possession and created a lot of chances.

“We started well enough, but quickly let in a poor goal. We got back in the game with a goal from Liam (Ferdinand) and were doing all right. But then, all of a sudden, it went bang, bang, bang and it was 4-1 to them.”

To make matters worse, Town lost the services of centre-back Carl Davies due to injury late in the first half.

“He’s been carrying a foot injury for a few weeks,” revealed Warner. “He thought he could get through the game, but obviously he couldn’t.”

Matt Day took over from Davies before Robins went with just three at the back for the second half, with midfielder Ashleigh Artwell replacing Sean Moore.

The manager continued: “In the second half, we were decent with the amount of possession we had. We moved the ball around quite well, created some good chances, Ferdy scored a good second goal, Kensley (Maloney) hit the post and their keeper made a couple of good saves. We could have pulled it back to 5-4 down with a bit of luck.

“But we continued to give goals away and they scored a couple of late ones when we were looking to push on.”

Ware’s seventh came through a penalty, which means Town have now conceded four spot kicks in successive games.

“That has just got to stop,” commented Warner. “We can’t expect to win games when we are giving teams a free shot at us.

“People had been saying we are on a bad run, but I disagreed as before Saturday we had only lost one league game in six and won a cup tie, but after Saturday’s performance I can’t really defend that any more. We are on a bad run.

“We have only taken five points from seven league games and that is not good enough.

“We have got to start putting in a string of performances to satisfy the trust and confidence I have got in the squad.

“Earlier in the season we were scoring freely and staying tight at the back, but that is not happening for us at the moment.

“I have worked with most of the players for two years and we have got some very good players in what is a strong squad.”

Warner stated: “We are a good attacking side, creating plenty of chances and scoring goals, and we’ve got the best goalkeeper (Mark Scott) in the league, but we need to shore things up at the back.

“We are in a difficult league. If you make a mistake you are likely to get punished, whereas in the Hellenic League you could get away with things.”

He feels his side have badly missed defender and skipper Dave Hancock, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury. The manager added: “Dave’s progressing quite well and should be back soon, but maybe not for next Saturday’s game.”

For the second week running, the Robins have to trek around the M25 to Hertfordshire, this time to face FC Romania at Cheshunt’s ground.

They will be seeking a double, having hammered them 6-0 at Larges Lane in August with Ferdinand netting a hat-trick.