IT'S been good to have a weekend off, but I think the acid test of whether it's been beneficial or not will come at 5pm on Saturday after the game at Hastings United.

We have been appreciative of the break. It has been a punishing opening to the season, especially with all the travelling we have done early on.

Whether our batteries are recharged and we have had any benefit from the break, we will hopefully see after yet another long trip.

Hastings is probably the worst of all the trips we have to make in terms of time and distance, and consequently we have decided to travel down on Friday and stay overnight.

We have to address the cost implications of everything, and suffice to say a very noble gesture has been made on behalf of the players in terms of that.

It's going to be a difficult game. We beat Hastings 2-1 on the opening day of the season but that result aside, they have matched nearly everyone else in the league and are going well.

We knew that the game back in August was going to be tough and we weren't disappointed in that, and the same will be true of Saturday's game.

There's obviously a lot of anticipation about the Aldershot game in the FA Trophy the following week.

It is a tremendous draw, no doubt about that, and that will be reflected in the gate. They have an excellent following, and for a change we need to win what we would consider to be a big game.

But talking to the players the other night, they know that Saturday at Hastings is a very big game as well.

Hopefully we can follow this short break by kick-starting our season again now.

Application in training has been good and, contrary to what some people may think, it is a very heavily committed squad of players we have got.

Our problem with lack of goals has been going on for a period of time now, and we did some work the other night with regard to that.

We have changed the training routine this season, and we have been lucky enough that our groundsmen Tim Phillips and Chris Dale, along with Steve Bond, have managed to get us up at Old Elizabethans Cricket Club.

The grass floodlit area up there is an excellent facility and we are trying to help Tim and Chris by not continually training on the pitch, although obviously there are times when we do need to get on the pitch to train.

The facilities at OEs are something we are prepared to look at to try and preserve the excellent playing surface we have got, and up to now it has worked pretty well.

Regarding the injury situation, it is really disappointing because we can't see anybody coming back within a short period of time.

David Foy has really taken a step back with his recall to the surgeon, and we have been told not to expect him back until three months after the operation.

David feels pleased with the progress he has made, but the first week in February is the earliest we can expect to see him which is a blow.

Mark Shail played for the reserves at Boldmere on Saturday but he wasn't 100 per cent happy with it and did feel some discomfort, which is also a concern.

Stewart Hadley has gone back again to see the rehabilitation people and he is on line with the progress he should be making, and we would like to think that coming up to Christmas and the New Year there may be optimism, but who knows?