TOM HEEKS insists that Drifters have improved since the start of the season despite still looking for a first win in Southern Counties North.

Drifters have lost all four league matches this term including the 57-8 defeat at home to Bucks rivals Aylesbury on Saturday.

Heeks admits that results suggest the team is unable to compete, but he has backed them to turn a corner in the coming weeks.

The Drifters coach told the Observer: “We’ve had better scorelines and they might not lead you to believe that, but we’re still competing and have improved significantly in the past few weeks.

“The important message to go with is we knew this would be a big step up, but actually each week we’re showing improvement and we are not far off.

“For 60 minutes we can compete but it’s the other 20 minutes that are tough. For a period in games teams come out a lot harder than we expect and we leak points, but other than that we are pretty competitive.

“There’s still a positive feel around the club and membership is up.”

Drifters make the short journey to league leaders Buckingham this Saturday before a visit to One Pin Lane from Windsor on November 4.

Heeks speculated: “They will be tough matches. We’re really just looking to compete in those games and make the scorelines more close.

“Then we’ve got a run of games where you will see the bottom of the table look more healthy for us because we will play teams we believe we can beat.”

"Until then we're looking to learn but we want to be better ready for a big push towards Christmas."

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