WORCESTER City player-manager Andy Preece is confident of notching his first Nationwide North win tonight against Gainsborough Trinity at St George's Lane (7.45).

Preece's opening game in charge on Saturday began with a warm reception from City supporters, but ended in disappointment as league leaders Southport clinched a 3-1 away victory.

Slack defending proved City's downfall again as the Sandgrounders scored all three in the first-half, while matters worsened when goalkeeper Danny McDonnell was sent off for being adjudged to bring down striker Steve Daly inside the box.

Preece was satisfied with his side's hard work though and believes another dogged display could reap three points tonight. However, the veteran striker admitted to wanting a blank mid-week after a whirlwind first few days in the City hot-seat.

"I think I would have preferred not to have the game", said Preece. "But it's there and you have to get on with it. We have to take some of the things that we did against Southport into that game.

"We haven't played Gainsborough yet this season and we know little about them. Graham Selby will have something on them and we'll go through that. We'll have to try and be as organised as we can to cope with problems they may pose us."

Preece identified City's defence as a weakness and has made improving his back-line a priority when assistant manager Andy Morrison joins up for Thursday's training session.

He added: "We have got to defend better as a team, it is not just the defence or the goalkeeper. If you do that and keep clean sheets, we'll get results. That will probably be the first thing I'll be looking to do as a team, to defend better and restrict opportunities.

"Obviously, I can learn from the Southport game. I'll learn again against Gainsborough and, hopefully, I'll get stuck into it in the next few weeks.

"By the end of this week, I'll have seen most of the players and I'll have a good idea about them. It is happening very quickly at the minute and it will take us a while to get things right. By the beginning of next month, I would hope to see a massive improvement."

City will still be without injured defenders Shabir Khan (groin), Les Hines (calf) and captain Carl Heeley (knee), while midfielder Liam McDonald may be added to the squad.

Preece may want to give a run-out to those kept on the bench on Saturday, with Pat Lyons, John Snape and Nick Colley poised for action.