Halstead Town manager Mark Benterman is demanding more graft from his players.

The Town boss was disappointed with the application from some of his team as they lost 3-1 to Woodbridge Town in Thurlow Nunn League division one and wants to see better when they head to Leiston Reserves today and Haverhill Borough on Wednesday.

He said: “We didn’t want it enough against Woodbridge.

“Unfortunately the work ethic wasn’t there – not from everyone, but it was one or two and you can’t allow that to happen for where we want to get to.

“It hasn’t been a disastrous start to the season and if we win our games in hand then we’ll be into the top two or three, but we’ve lost a couple of games to teams we shouldn’t have.

“So we had senior players’ meeting on Tuesday to air any concerns and it was very positive.

“We’re also getting people coming back into contention who have been out with injuries and I think you’ll start to see the real Halstead Town now and what we are trying to do.”

Benterman said he expected to have a much fuller squad to choose from for tomorrow’s trip to Leiston, with the likes of Lewis Cunliffe, Gareth Thomas, Jamie Clark, James Murray, Nick Miller, Dan Grindrod and James Regan all in contention for places.

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