Things are gradually getting better at SIL Senior Division basement boys, Grundisburgh, according to manager Micky Squirrell.

After a brief respite, the team are back at the bottom of the league, ahead of this weekend’s home game with Felixstowe Harpers United.

However, despite just two victories this season, the former Senior Division big-guns are just three points from safety.

Things were looking bleak for the 2011 champions and Squirrell is still looking to add to the coaching side, following the resignations of joint-managers Karl Baldwin and Stevie Moore in the summer.

On the pitch, however, the recruitment drive has improved, following a period of time when the whole future of the club was uncertain, due to a lack of players, and experienced trio Chris Pratt (who has now returned to Crane Sports), Rene Swann and Alan Mills have helped steady the ship.

“It’s a little bit better than the beginning of the season when we didn’t know if we were going to win a single game,” said Squirrell.

“We have brought in some experience but we still don’t have a regular side every week.

“When Rene Swann plays we look like we can score, and his goals have helped us win the two games, but his work commitments mean he is often unavailable on a Saturday.

“If he plays five or six games for us this season though, that might be enough to keep us up.”

Squirrell has targeted the next three games, against Felixstowe (seventh), Haughley (sixth) and second-bottom Ipswich Athletic, as being crunch clashes in Grundisburgh’s season, but feels his side is better equipped to cope now than it was in the summer.

“We had no senior players in the first-team squad, they were all reserves from the Intermediate C Division,” Squirrell recalled.

“Some of those players found it hard, and not enjoyable, as there is a massive gulf between where they had been playing, and the Senior Division.

“Some of the boys left but the boys who have stayed have got better with better players around them and we have had a couple of convincing wins.

“We are still fairly inexperienced but have given ourselves a fighting chance and the next three games are crucial for us.

The Ipswich Athletic game is a key one.”