LIONS scrum-half Sam Hardcastle refused to panic over his team’s recent form – but insists the sooner a win comes the better.

The SSE National League Two South side have lost their past eight games, including Saturday’s thrilling 39-36 encounter with Southend.

And with away games against Chinnor and fellow strugglers London Irish Wild Geese looming, Hardcastle, pictured, would love to stop the rot before Christmas.

He said: “The sooner we get a win the better and we know it will come soon.

“I do think as soon as it comes it will catapult us on and give us a bit more confidence. It would be great to get it before Christmas but there are a lot of games after Christmas as well.

“We’re not panicking just yet. It will come eventually and if we play the way I know we’re capable of we can beat any team in the league.”

Bournemouth started the season strongly, losing just one of their opening six games and securing a victory over promotion-chasing Taunton.

The defeat at home to Southend on Saturday was particularly frustrating as they led 36-20 with 10 minutes to play but could not hold on.

Hardcastle added: “We’ve been gradually building up each week and we thought we finally got to the point where we could win a game but we let the lead slip which makes it harder to take.

“We’ve had a few injuries and when you’ve got five or six experienced players unavailable it can be quite a big factor.

“At the moment, I would be happy with survival in the league but if we string together a run of a few wins, it could fire us up to mid-table.”

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