IN the circumstances, our draw against Hendon in the FA Umbro Trophy was a great result for the club.

We had a couple of players out but we have to accept that sides at this time of year do lose players for one reason or another.

We put a couple of young lads in there as substitutes -- Wesley Joyce and Danny Scheppel -- who had a bit of a baptism of fire.

You look at the contributions of players like Danny McDonnell, Mark Tucker and Carl Heeley in recent weeks. They are going to need some help and contributions have to be made on a more consistent basis by other members of the team.

We have done OK up until now, but there comes a time when you need to improve things. If you cannot see improvement you stand still, and if you do that for long enough you start to go backwards. That is my frustration.

I didn't think we played particularly well against Weymouth, we deserved something at Burton and deserved what we got last night. But the major contributions have come from the same three players, and contributions from other members of the team have to have a wider impact than they are at the moment, otherwise we won't improve.

Having said that, we have had chances to go on and win the Hendon game but haven't taken them.

It was a difficult draw when it was first made, and I saw enough from Hendon last night to know that this tie is far from over.

We are certainly in trouble in Monday's replay if we have only three players contributing.

Looking back to Saturday's game, I think the Burton camp were delighted to have got the win but were quick to point out that they wouldn't have argued if the points had been shared.

It was a close game and that is how close we are. I don't think we are a million miles away, especially on the quality of the league we have seen this season, but sometimes that little bit is the biggest bit to bridge.

This is where we come back to the improvement and also the necessary investment in the team. I can identify players that can improve us and make an impact, but getting them is the next stage of the process.

But we are certainly not throwing in the towel -- far from it. That is just a realistic assessment of our current situation.

If I had said back in July where we would be at this stage of the season, we are in front of where I would have set the benchmark.

But we are still recovering from certain situations -- that is not just the team and dressing room, it is the club as a whole, and that is getting in the way of trying to improve the dressing room, no doubt about that.

We are in a really tough spell of fixtures at the moment, and Ilkeston at home this Saturday is another prime example of how difficult the league is.

They have had a change of manager in John McGovern, and results have improved since we beat them 4-2 away back in September -- which was a big result for us.

It will be interesting to see if they have changed their style of play under their former boss Keith Alexander, which was a tried and trusted method for them.