AFTER three consecutive defeats with three sendings off and his side sitting fourth from bottom in the league Brentwood Town manager Steve Witherspoon has declared: "There's no panic just a temporary loss of player confidence."
Witherspoon has seen his side go nine matches unbeaten before they were dumped out of the FA Cup and then lost their two league games last week 3-0 with experienced Danny Dafter, Darren Blewitt and Lee Blackburn all being shown red cards.
"We had a good run and now suddenly we've lost three games in a row but it's certainly not the end of the world and there's no panic inside the dressing room," he explained. "We've a decent enough squad with good players some of who have understandably lost a little bit of confidence with those three defeats.
"But we'll get the players calmed down and settled again this week and I'm sure we can get back to winning ways," said Witherspoon. "We've made a bit of money for the club in the FA Cup, we're still in the FA Trophy and if you look at the league table we're two or three games behind others.
"A couple of wins will push us up into the top half of the table and there's a long way to go this season and I'm still confident we have a side capable of being up there amongst the leaders at the end," he said.
Witherspoon, who confirmed that former defender Ted Lewellyn is set to return from his current club Waltham Abbey, said every club has blips but he was confident the situation could be turned around.
"I was disappointed with our last defeat at Aveley on Saturday because I had wanted a better reaction from the midweek loss at Potters Bar Town," he explained. "But it didn't happen and that was down to a lack of individual player confidence but we have a game tonight (against Enfield in the league cup) and are at home to Witham Town on Saturday and in both games I'll be looking for the side to comeback."
The two match suspension for the three players sent off won't come into effect for another week but Witherspoon added: "I would be worried if we were not playing our game and creating chances which we are and I think once we start scoring again then that missing confidence will return."
"Both Blewitt and Dafter were sent off early at Potters Bar for swearing by a referee who I felt had a different agenda than anyone else on the park," he explained. "Playing with nine men for such a long time was obviously too much against a team at the top.
"Blackburn's sending off on Saturday late on was a second yellow for a bad tackle but he had already been booked for mouthing off at the officials," he said. "It was unnecessary and players must learn that once they're on a yellow they are treading a fine line."
With the rest of the squad injury free Witherspoon is looking for an immediate change of fortunes starting at Enfield tonight.