Grove coach Nathan Brooks says their Southern Counties North season is about to hit crunch time.

And he stressed they cannot afford to repeat their second-half cup display against Milton Keynes on Saturday if they are to vie for promotion.

After that defeat, Brooks said: “Hopefully we will learn a few lessons for the rest of the league season.

“We will have to up our level of performance in the forthcoming derbies against Chipping Norton (December 5) and Witney (December 12).

“It is crunch time in the league now.

“The Witney game, especially, is going to be massive.

“If we can turn them over, we will put ourselves into a great position.

“I don’t think our cup defeat will have an effect on our league form.”