MANAGER Justin Miller is adamant there is no chance of Purton feeling down in the dumps about their current plight as they look to arrest a tough run of results.

The Red House outfit are on a five-match winless run in Hellenic League Division One West and have picked up just a single point in that time.

However, that has included slender defeats to three teams in the top five in the table - local rivals Fairford Town, Hook Norton and Easington Sports.

Miller has taken plenty of positives from the fact his side has run some of the division’s leading lights so close and has no reason to doubt Purton cannot turn it around when they travel to Milton United tomorrow.

“It’s been a tough run of games, we’ve had Fairford at home and both Hook Norton and Easington away in that spell,” said Miller.

“We’ve lost by the odd goal in all of those so we were unlucky to come away with no points at all.

“We have been in games and we’ve had chances in all of them, so we are all still very positive about our form at the moment.

“The most disappointing result was the New College game on Boxing Day. We had seven or eight players missing but there were some strange results that day – I think Fairford lost too.

“It’s been difficult but we knew we had that tough run of games and we’ve played all the top teams now, so hopefully we can push on and have a strong end to the season.”

Purton romped to an emphatic 4-0 success when they entertained Milton back in late November but Miller insists that by no means guarantees a walk in the park at Potash Lane tomorrow.

“We’re still in good spirits and we go into this weekend trying to get that win on the board but we know it will be tough,” said Miller.

“You can’t read too much into results in this league as one week you can face a team with all their best players, and the next, you don’t.

“Milton were struggling for players the last time we played but at home, you normally expect everyone to be available to play.

“We will go there expecting a very tough game against them. I don’t think you can read anything into what happened last time.”

Elsewhere, Fairford will climb to the top of the table if they overcome Clanfield 85 at Cinder Lane.

Gareth Davies’ side are three points behind Hook Norton but the leaders have no league game, instead playing in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup, and Fairford already boast a far better goal difference.