CHELMSFORD CITY striker Bertie Brayley has called on the club's fans to be patient as their new-look side gels.
Brayley came off the bench to score the winner as the Clarets beat Staines Town 3-2 on Saturday, and then netted a late consolation from the spot in Monday's 2-1 loss at Tonbridge Angels.
The much-travelled striker is enjoying his second spell at Melbourne Park and is happy to be on the goal trail early in the campaign.
"Of course I'm happy with the two goals," he said. "It was nice to score on Monday but we lost, so that takes the shine off it.
"And it was obviously great to get the winner against Staines."
Brayley is one of only a handful of familiar faces to the Clarets faithful as new boss Dean Holdsworth builds a new-look squad, and the one-time West Ham trainee believes – like his manager – that it will take a little bit of time for the squad to get up to speed.
"I think we generally had a good pre-season," he said. "And the boys are in high spirits. We played against tough opposition in pre-season which can be hard because they have the ball quite a lot and we're running after them.
"The mood is good, we're together but we are still finding our feet with each other.
"We've had six weeks together, it's not going to happen overnight.
"But everyone gets on well with each other and it's just about coming together now as a group of lads and working hard for each other."
The Clarets return to home turf on Saturday when Weston-super-Mare visit Melbourne Park, and Brayley is hoping the fans keep backing the side.
"We need the fans to have a bit of patience with us," he said. "We've got a good manager, a good backroom staff and they're doing the right things.
"There's nothing wrong with our spirits, we'll pick ourselves up on Saturday and hopefully people will be behind the boys on Saturday and we can get a result.
"Monday's loss wasn't the end of the world, we've got to regroup, all pull together and we can be positive ahead of Saturday."
Manager Holdsworth is expecting a tough test when the Seagulls visit.
It is the third home game out of four for the Clarets, and Holdsworth admits his side need to be consistent.
"I've had them watched," he said. "I've not had time to see them myself, but we're doing as much homework as we have got the capability of doing.
"They're a very good passing side, and it'll be a tough game.
"There aren't any easy games, you look at the results in the division and they're up and down for everyone so far so we're just looking for that consistency ourselves."
"The players know that if we keep a clean sheet, we are always going to score goals.
"We are an exciting team going forward but we have to be a very professional team at the back and at the moment we are getting punished.
"We need to keep working hard, we'll do it again this week and we'll keep working until we get it right."
