SLOUGH Town FC joint-boss Jon Underwood believes that the performance against Truro City on Saturday was ‘a small step in the right direction’.

Two goals from Isaac Vassell gave promotion-chasing Truro a 2-1 win at Holloways Park and condemned The Rebels to a fourth straight defeat.

However, the performance was much-improved in comparison to recent weeks, and Underwood has urged his team to keep on believing.

Speaking to The Observer, Underwood said: “We’re having a tough time at the minute but it was definitely an improvement on the previous two games.

“Truro are a very good side who are pushing for promotion, so it was always going to be a tough game.

“But we competed for 90 minutes which we had not been doing for the previous two weeks.

“We were one down at half-time and the message was that we can’t let the same happen again.

“We pushed Truro all the way trying to claim a point, which you could argue that we deserved.

“During the second-half of the previous two matches, the players didn’t look like they had a lot of answers.

“But at no point did we feel beaten on Saturday, and we will take that as a positive at the minute.

“It’s a small step in the right direction after a bad spell of results in a tough league.

“Other teams have had worse spells, longer runs without a result, so although it’s not going well we’ve got to keep the belief.” Slough were boosted by the return of Jamie McClurg on Saturday after a knee injury which had kept him out for three months.

But club captain Adam Foulser is set for another spell on the sidelines when his comeback was cut short due to injury.

Underwood said: “We felt that they would give us a lift, which they did, but Adam has been desperately unlucky having been out for a year.

“He didn’t look like he had been out for that long but felt his hamstring pop and that’s him done for the season. At least it wasn’t his knee.

“Jamie had to get through 90 minutes, which we didn’t expect or anticipate, but has come through it well.” The Rebels travel to Cirencester Town this Saturday (3pm ko) and Underwood knows that his team will have to be on the top of their game.

He explained: “It’s another tough match. Cirencester beat us 2-1 earlier in the season and they were good value for that.

“They’re no different to a number of sides in this league, experienced, strong at the back and don’t make many mistakes.

“They’re another group that will be tough to play against, so we need to be on the top of our game or we will get beat.

“Cirencester are not flying in terms of results but you just don’t know. Goals aren’t going in for us at the minute but we know that we’ve got players who can score.

“Chris Henry caused all sorts of problems on Saturday and I’m looking forward to seeing him again.” **PICK up a copy of The Observer, out now, for all the latest sports news and action including an update on Slough Town's 'homecoming'** **FOLLOW The Observer on Twitter at @Observer_sports**