BOSS Adie Arnold believes his Verwood Town freshers are starting to find their feet in Wessex Premier and learned a harsh lesson in their most recent test.

The Wessex One champions were on the receiving end of a 5-1 defeat by Newport a fortnight ago following back-to-back wins over Romsey and New Milton.

“It was a real eye opener,” admitted Arnold. “You get punished if you make mistakes in this division and that was a case of ‘welcome to the Premier for us’.

“Newport were superb and embarrassed us for the first 45 minutes after we had showed them too much respect. We played our own game in the second half and were much better, even though we were 3-0 down.

“You have got to have belief in your own ability and I think our lads are beginning to realise that.

“They know they have got to concentrate more and switch on a bit quicker. We took a bit of time to find our feet but we are getting there. The wins against Romsey and New Milton pushed us into mid-table and we looked more comfortable in those games.”

Verwood, 3-0 victors over Cranborne in the Dorset Senior Cup six days ago, are currently 15th and host 18th-placed Poppies at Potterne Park tomorrow (3pm).

Arnold added: “I know they are going through a difficult time at the moment but they are an established Wessex Premier team and that is what we are aspiring to be.”

Potters: (from) Lynch, Smith, Evans, Delaney, Kelly, Anderton, Webb, Steer, Midson, O’Connell, Gajic, Saxby, Dyer, Haskell, Satterley, Hill.