Sidmouth Town manager Danny Burwood said he has to be ‘brave enough’ to make changes in his search for a winning formula.
He said: "If you've got a shirt, you've got to work hard to keep it. We're not afraid to make changes. It's a case of the players stepping up to the mark, cementing their position and then we build from there.
"We've got to be brave enough to make changes. It might mean a player not playing in his usual position or not playing someone who did well last year. If we make those changes and it works, brilliant, if not it's back to the drawing board."
His side were defeated 4-1 at home to Brixham but Burwood said he was happy with the new faces on show: "Before the game, we were humming and ha-ing on formations and changes as there were a couple of players that didn't perform the week before.
"I was chuffed to bits with the new guys that came in. One of them is Jack Lewis who plays in the middle and has really good feet. The other is Joe Wilkinson up front who is coming back after not playing for a little while. He made some great runs and it is up to us to gel and get a threat going forward.
Burwood lamented the opening goal which changed the momentum and was left to wonder what could have been. He said: "Being at home, we wanted to make a spectacle of it and after a couple of chances in their half, the first goal was a bit of a kick in the teeth but that's how it's going at the moment. That's the way things go when you're down at the bottom.
"Being 3-0 down at half time, it was always going to be difficult but after we got one back there was a couple of chances when they tried to overplay on a quite a heavy surface. I think if we had got a second one you never know what might have happened but it's never nice to lose 4-1."
Errors at the back and missing chances up front have been a mainstay of their season but Burwood is hoping he can cut it out. "I said at the start of the campaign that we were making mistakes at the back and not taking our chances up front. That is the difference in this league.
"It is a case of cutting out the errors and we have been working on that in training."
Burwood said he believes he is building a good squad and highlighted some upcoming fixtures where they can start to pick up points. He said: "Saturday is something to build on. We have a nice squad coming together with the two new lads. They've made a good impact on the side and it's now a case of getting a consistent squad together and fielding it for two, three weeks in a row."
"We've got Holsworthy and Honiton to play twice and Plymouth Marjons once. A lot of those are at home so we're really looking at those games to be able to pick the points up."
Before that though is a trip to Millbrook, a ground Burwood visited when he was part of the Exmouth Town coaching set-up. He said: "I played there a long time ago in the FA Vase with Exmouth and it's a nice little ground.
"They pass the ball well, last time we played them at home. We played a certain formation that we thought we would cope with it and it did until a late deflection went over our keeper. We're tinkering with formations in training."
"We'll go down with a fresh mind that if we can cut out those little errors and then start taking our chances we will get something.
"It's a case of going there, giving it a real good go and if the changes we make helps us out then fantastic."
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