We’re feeling better about ourselves, says Puritans manager Jones

The Puritans suffered back-to-back 3-0 losses to Spennymoor Town and Scarborough Athletic at the start of the new Vanarama National League North season but have bounced back with a 2-0 win at Gloucester City being followed by a fine 1-0 success over Chester at the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium last weekend.

And Jones is now hoping his team can keep the momentum going as they prepare for a trip to newly-promoted Rushall Olympic on Saturday, which is then followed by a home clash with Buxton on Bank Holiday Monday.

“Confidence is a really big thing and these couple of victories have given the players a lift and a bit of belief and we have to keep that going,” the Banbury boss said.

“No game is the same and Rushall have had a difficult start but they will be desperate to get some more points on the board.

“It will be a very difficult game and we have to make sure we approach it in the same way as we have in the last two matches.

“We have to make sure we work very hard first and foremost and we feel we have players in the team who can hurt the opposition going forward.

“We certainly feel a lot better about ourselves this week than we did a couple of weeks ago.

“We just have to make sure we understand why we have been able to pick up a couple of good wins and try to continue to replicate that.”

An early goal from summer signing Tope Obadeyi proved to be enough to seal victory over Chester and Jones added: “It was a great win for us.

“We started the game really positively and I thought we caused them a few problems and they actually changed their shape during the first half to counteract some of the bits we were doing.

“We knew they were a possession-based side and they would try to dominate by keeping hold of the ball. We expected that but I thought we always carried a threat on the break.

“But what we have done better in the last two games is not give any stupid goals away.

“It always gives you a chance if you are keeping clean sheets. Zeros and ones against always give you a good chance and we have been much more solid in these two games.

“It’s been a great reaction after the first two defeats and the players deserve credit for bouncing back.”