SHRIVENHAM caretaker manager Michael McNally is hoping to take Saturday’s performance in tonight’s Wiltshire derby at Wootton Bassett Town.

The Barrington Park outfit claimed their first point in th e Premier Division since January 24 at the weekend when they held Milton United to a goalless draw.

And as McNally, who took temporary charge following Sam Collier’s resignation at the start of the month, gets his side ready he believes that the team have started to improve.

“There has been a little change in attitude since I started – the lads seem more relaxed in the changing room,” McNally said.

“I have had the same 13 or 14 players for the last couple of matches and at Bassett I’ll have a squad of 16 or 17 to choose from.

“They are also listening to what I have to say and if they are doing that then you’ve won half the battle.”

The caretaker manager is expected to hand defender Gareth Brown his debut after he joined the club from Thatcham Town, however, McNally’s bid to bring in a new striker for this evening’s derby have failed.

Shrivvy go into the derby clash lying second-from-bottom 14 points adrift from safety, while Bassett are hovering two places above the drop zone with an eight-point buffer.

Bassett, who will be looking to bounce back from their Bluefin Sports Challenge Cup defeat to Division One West leaders Longlevens at the weekend, will be without influential midfielder Henry Traas for a minimum of five weeks after he twisted his ankle follow a bizarre slip.

Manager Paul Braithwaite added: “I have to treat it like any other game.

“I don’t care who we play, whether it is Longlevens who are top of Division One or Highmoor who are top of the Prem, I just want to win.

“I know that we lost to a side that are in the division below us, but there were plenty of positives to take.

“Hugo Vivash made his full debut, he only just turned 17 a couple of weeks ago and has been with our Under 18s.

“Joey Hiscock got an important 90 minutes under his belt.

“All I want us to do is go out there and continue from where we left off in our last league game against Reading (Town) which we won 3-1.

“We have quite a good record in 2015 so far and I want that to continue.”