NOW we are out of the cup competitions it is vital that we sort out our disappointing league form.

It's down to the nitty-gritty of Nationwide North until the end of the season and we must crack on, get points on the board and make full use of our games in hand.

We definitely need to improve our away form. It's been shocking and we've not been able to win. I must have lost count on the times we've worked ourselves into strong positions in away games, but not finished teams off.

I was disappointed with the outcome at Crawley Town in last Saturday's FA Trophy tie, because we stood a good chance of getting a result.

We had a real go, playing three strikers, and scoring first at the Broadfield Stadium was all-important.

We created a couple of first-half chances when we looked dangerous at set-plays. Once again, we had the first real opportunity that fell to me and had I scored, it could have been a different story.

In general play, we looked solid and posed a threat going forward. It was a credit to us that we limited Crawley to chances on the break.

At half-time, I could not have been happier with our performance. We then needed to keep it tight in the second-half, but we didn't manage it.

We conceded a poor goal from a quickly-taken set-piece, then we got ragged and lost it for 20 minutes.

Teams from a higher-level will punish that ragged approach and Crawley did so with two quality goals.

So, we've lost again, but apart from a bad 20 minutes after half-time, it was a good exercise for us. There is still optimism about the performance.

Troy Wood enjoyed his full debut in a real, competitive game and did OK from the service we gave him.

When we got the ball to him in the right areas, he is very tricky and has good feet. He realises the pace is a lot different to what he is used to, but I had to give him an opportunity to look at him.

But we must play to his strengths. He is only a small lad and it's no good putting high balls to him. He's not going to give us anything in that respect.

If we deliver the ball to his feet and Troy is facing defenders, he will cause huge problems and we saw that at Crawley.

I had another look at Liam McDonald at left wing-back. He worked hard and did OK in that position, like he did against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup.

It was nice to have Shabir Khan back. He looked fantastic in the first-half, then struggled in the second-half. But Shabir is still young and he will develop as a defender.

We've had our fair share of injury problems recently, so it will be nice if we have Jai Stanley available in a couple of weeks.

I expect him to be chomping at the bit after the length of time he's been out. Talking to him, I know he's been frustrated by the amount of knee injuries and operations he's had.

But everything is looking positive for Jai. He is confident this will be the end of everything he's gone through.

He wants to be out on the pitch. He has missed it and we've missed him. Jai's got the ability to unlock defences and we miss that ability on the ball, to open things up and create chances. Jai is a key player for us.