MIKE Ford is hoping Banbury United’s midweek victory can be the start of an upturn in fortunes.

A 4-0 win at Gosport Borough in midweek brought an end to a run of five successive defeats.

Banbury moved back into the Evo-Stik South League Premier Division top ten, but Ford says there was still room for improvement.

“We went to Gosport with the right mentality, scored three goals in 15 minutes and could have run up a cricket score,” he said.

“But we didn’t quite do the right things after that, but it was a good result, no doubt.”

Despite a 5-1 opening-day victory against tomorrow’s opponents Dorchester, Ford is expecting a tough game.

He said: “Their new manager (Steve Thompson) has a lot of experience and will be looking to get them away from the bottom of the table.

“My team hasn’t changed much since the opening day, but there may be a lot more change in them with a new manager.

“They’ve been in decline, but their new boss will try to drag them into mid-table.”

Banbury will be without the suspended Leam Howards tomorrow, but captain Ricky Johnson and midfielder Jack Self could be fit.

Ford believes the majority of teams in the division have little hope of competing with the top five, but is challenging his side to finish as close to them as possible.

“You’ve got the likes of Kings Lynn, Kettering, Weymouth, Slough and Hereford who are flying.

“It’s like you have the top five, and then the rest.

“I want to finish as near to the top of the rest as we can.

“We’ve had two years of unbridled success, and it can be a bit disappointing that we are not up there.

“But I have a very young side and will show a bit of loyalty to them.

“We are very much a work in progress.”

Banbury Utd (v Dorchester Tn, away): from Harding, Hawtin, Peake-Pijnen, Westbrook, Bradbury, Carnell, Shamsi, Pond, Louis, McDonagh, Winters, Self, Johnson, Nash, Wise, Sambrook.