NEW COLLEGE manager Mark Teasdale is hoping that his side can bounce back to winning ways this weekend and go into one of the biggest matches in their history in fine fettle.

The student side are in the midst of their first-ever FA Vase campaign and after battling past Fleet Spurs earlier this month, Teasdale’s men host Thame United in the second qualifying round on October 4.

But before that, College face a Hellenic League Division One West clash with Shortwood United Reserves and after suffering back-to-back 4-0 defeats in their last two outings, at the hands of league leaders Longlevens and rivals Cirencester Town Development, Teasdale is hoping that three points are on the menu on Saturday.

“We’ve been building up the FA Vase game against Thame quite a lot because it’s such a big match for us but it would be nice to go into it off the back of a win,” said Teasdale.

“It’s alright to concentrate on it but it’s also important that we get back to winning ways in the league as soon as we can.

“We’ve obviously got a young side that can be a bit naive at times and don’t concentrate on defending properly.

“Longlevens didn’t to have to push too hard last weekend because we gave away goals with a few sloppy mistakes but apart from that, we were still pretty pleased with how we played.

“The College is doing their best to field competitive sides for all of our different games and we’ll continue to do that.

“I know that Shortwood’s first team are in the FA Cup so hopefully they won’t be at full-strength on Saturday and that gives us more chance of getting three points.”

New College helped put stablemates Swindon Supermarine through their paces in a training match in midweek, Christy Millar on target as Marine ran out 4-1 winners.

Teasdale added: “Supermarine wanted the chance to play a few trialists and a few of their guys that are coming back from injury, so we played a little friendly against them.

“We lost 4-1 and that was again down to a few little mistakes but we did quite well overall against some very good players.”

Defender Ben Wells returns to the College squad for the Shortwood game.