BOSS Adie Arnold is backing his Christchurch troops to turn the tide following a tough start to his Hurn Bridge stewardship.

Priory are still searching for their first point in Wessex Premier and exited the FA Cup after going down 3-1 to Alresford in an extra preliminary round replay on Wednesday.

Arnold, who saw Jack Lovell equalise for Priory, wants his players to take the positives from their cup exploits into their league campaign, starting tonight at home to Lymington (7.45pm).

He said: “We have played well in patches and just need to find some consistency. We either need to grind out a result or play for 90 minutes. It is not the start I would have wanted but I have every faith in the players and I know we will get there.”

Priory: (from) Bray, Harris, Hill, Steer, Dodd, Cullen, Smith, Wilkinson, Lovell, Vining, Owen, Roberts, Wright, Randell, Burden, Hampton-Brown, Saxby, Clark, Fawcett.

  • Billy Walker returns for Hamworthy United’s home clash with Alresford, while Verwood will be looking to bounce back from Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat by Andover when they host Follands. Poppies travel to Petersfield.

Hammers: (from) Ackerman, Penny, Cole, Legg, Donachy, Yelland, Warren, Blackburn, Price, Cook, Hester, Allen, Haysom, Swann, Osborne, Walker.

Potters: Lynch, Evans, Buck, Cormack, Dent, Molyneaux, Anderton, Dyer, Gajic, Whelan, Cousins, Foster, Turner, Elysee, Fisk, Munday, Groves, Rutten.

Poppies: (from) Vaughan, Doe, Jacobs, Burgis, Pearce, Saadi, Phillips, Pekun, Bassiriki, Fairbrother, Toy, Ayrton, Robinson, Dibigibo, Cooper, Rhodes.