FOLLOWING the first 10 games of the season I think Worcester City have done better than expected in Blue Square Bet North.

We have had blips but we have played well at times as well and to be ninth in the table after nearly a quarter of the campaign gone is a higher position than we thought we would have been in.

Football is a game of strange emotions for players and managers. On the back of three defeats against Corby, Altrincham and Guiseley, it would have been easy to get down in the dumps.

But you have to remain positive and keep believing in the players you signed.

They don’t become bad players overnight, confidence plays a massive part and we got a solid performance in beating Solihull Moors 3-0 on Monday. Suddenly we are looking at Saturday’s game with Bishop’s Stortford at St George’s Lane full of optimism.

Mike Symons scored his sixth goal of the season for us in that game and I think he has been a revelation. At the end of every match he is dead on his feet because of the work-rate and effort he puts in.

People doubted whether he would score goals but I wouldn’t have signed him if I thought that and it’s good to see he’s proving a few of those wrong.

If our recent run has shown anything it is that you can’t predict results but the one thing you can say for certain is that if players are not on their game and make errors, you get punished. The teams who make the least mistakes will be the ones in the play-offs and winning leagues.

There are always surprise packages and I don’t think anyone would have expected Hyde to have won 10 out of 10 but they have and deserve all the plaudits they get for that.

However, teams can win one week and get beaten the next and that has shown with the goals that have been going in across the league of late.

There have been some very strange results so far this season. I didn’t expect us to lose two games on the spin 4-1 and you don’t expect teams to lose 6-1 at home like Colwyn Bay did against Altrincham on Tuesday night.

Guiseley lost 4-3 at home to Halifax this week, which was a surprise on recent form, while Bishop’s Stortford won by the same score at Eastwood, a match Matt Gardiner and myself went to watch.

We also now know that we will be visiting Godalming Town from Ryman League Division One South in the FA Cup second qualifying round after they beat Moneyfields 3-1 in their replay.

It is going to be a tough match going away from home against a team below us in the non-league pryamid. They will raise their game so we have to guard against that. We have to be professional in our approach but our immediate focus is Saturday’s match at St George’s Lane.