SWINDON Supermarine manager Lee Spalding believes the tide is turning in a positive direction for his side ahead of their Southern League Premier South meeting with Taunton Town on Saturday.

A pair of recent victories bookended a difficult few weeks in August that yielded just one point from a possible 12 for Marine.

A 3-0 win secured their safe passage through to the next round of FA Cup qualifying on Saturday before Marine put four past Larkhall in a 4-1 Southern League Cup success in midweek.

Spalding has been largely pleased with the performance of his players in recent outings, but felt that the victories Marine had deserved in league defeats finally arrived in their cup matches.

And the Marine boss is now hoping his squad can use their positive results to push on in the league.

Spalding said: “I think these cup games have come at a good time for us.

“They have definitely injected a little bit of confidence into us and given us the opportunity to have a look at a couple of other players.

“The players that came in on Tuesday, especially Joe Turley and Brad Hooper in central midfield, did really well.

“They’ve given themselves a chance of being included in the squad for Saturday and that’s good for them and for the squad.”

Marine head to Somerset in search of their first league win in a month on Saturday while their only other opportunity to accumulate points comes a fortnight later away at Dorchester.

As such, Spalding is keen for his players to grasp the opportunity of three points on the road to allow the club to hit the ground running when league action returns in earnest in October.

Spalding said: “Taunton didn’t have a great start, losing their first two, and were exactly the opposite to us in terms of results.

“But they’re coming strong again, they’ve got a lot of good players down there and I would imagine they’ll be one of the favourites to push for promotion this season.

“It will show us how close we are to them, and if we play to our full potential, there is no reason why we can’t go there and get a result.

“We need to be going there confident, with a positive attitude thinking that we can take all three points.

“Every single player will have to be either at their best or somewhere near for us to get a result.”