BRAD Quinton admits that it is “tough times” for Braintree Town at the moment after seeing them beaten 2-1 at Bognor Regis Town but he is relieved that his team are still within touching distance of the Vanarama National League South play-offs.

And the Iron boss said his players would have been drilled even harder in training this week to make sure they could turn it around when they host Poole Town at the IronmongeryDirect Stadium on Saturday.

Quinton said: “It was frustrating at Bognor - really frustrating considering that we only got going in the second half.

“They were two poor goals to concede and it’s tough times at the moment.

“The boys need to dig deep, look at themselves and train even harder because that’s what’s going to change it for us.

“We have more players coming in and looking to be a part of it and some of these boys may find themselves without a club soon if they can’t pick it up.

“But we are still in eighth, which is amazing considering the run we’ve been on.

“Taking five points from seven games, you should be nowhere near the play-offs, but we are still there.

“It has been a bad run that we’ve been on, but we are eighth still and know that one win can jump you up a couple of places.

“You have to scratch your head and wonder how we’re still in that position.

“We’ve got away with it somehow, but we still have a chance of getting in the play-offs and we just have to take that by working even harder.

“What you get out is what you put in, so we just have to work them even harder.

“You just want your more senior players to stand up at times like this.

“It is what it is and there are no excuses.

“We will be fine and we will get ourselves out out of it.

“We need to get ourselves ahead in the game and push on for the win to kick-start a good run.

“We will talk about it with them in training this week as they have to realise that no-one else can get them out of this.

“They have to focus and do it themselves.

“We’ll be honest with them, but they will find that training this week will be very hard.

“It will be enjoyable as it always is but they have to learn from the mistakes that have been made.

“You can’t point fingers, though, and we have to focus on being confident.”