HEAD coach Will Croker believes the next six weekends will provide a true test of the depth of his Bournemouth squad.
Lions have no free Saturdays until after Christmas and Croker is concerned that a busy National Three South West schedule could present injury problems.
But ahead of tomorrow's visit to strugglers Old Patesians (2.15pm) the former Basingstoke boss backed his squad to deliver.
He told the Daily Echo: "I think it's now going to be an interesting run-in to Christmas because it will be a game every week rather than being stop-start.
"It's going to start coming down to the depth of the squad because you are going to pick up injuries at this time of year as people start to fatigue.
"We've worked very hard at increasing our playing numbers because of the attritional nature of National League rugby and I'm blessed to have such depth in the squad."
Lions might be just two points behind second-placed Old Redcliffians but Croker insists his team should be keen to improve.
"There are still areas for growth," he said. "I think there are times we could speed the game up and against Old Centralians last week, we gave them 34 chances to run at us, so we need to be mindful of that."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here