Woodbridge Town boss Jamie Scales has admitted he didn’t think his young troops would struggle as much as they have this season.

Before this afternoon’s trip to Downham Town, the Woodpeckers sit at the bottom of the Thurlow Nunn First Division table, having been relegated from the Premier Division last campaign.

Although Woodbridge have several games in hand on their competitors, the Suffolk side have just 11 points to their name all season, with their last league win back on September 27.

“If I’m perfectly honest, we’re not where we want to be, or where I thought we’d be,” declared Scales, whose side have lost 3-0 in four of their last five league games.

“It’s been disappointing. We’ve played okay in most games, but we’re a young group of lads, and sometimes when one goal goes in, the heads go down, and we get hit again moments after.”

The perfect example of which came in Woodbridge’s last game two weeks ago – a 3-1 home defeat to second-bottom Dereham Town Reserves.

“We should have put the game to bed in the first half,” explained the Woodpeckers boss.

“We didn’t, and we allowed them to get back in the game and win which was disappointing.

“We’ve spoken about how to try and change it, we’ve had four good training sessions in the meantime, and I’m confident we can pull back round again.”

Scales, who took over the managerial reigns in the summer, continued: “It’s (bottom spot) not a place we want to be as a club, but we are where we are.

“Everybody knows what they’ve got to do to pick up, and as a group, all I can ask for is commitment.

“Despite our position, everybody is still very positive, and I’m sure we will pick up points again soon.

“We put a good run together earlier in the season before tailing off, and it has very much been a case of peaks and troughs as the saying goes.

“We’ve hit a little rut at the moment, but there’s no reason we can’t build a platform and put a nice little run together again - hopefully over the festive period.”

The Woodbridge chief is targeting six points from his side’s next three games as they travel to Leiston Reserves and host Great Yarmouth Kings Lynn Town Reserves, following today’s trip to Norfolk.

“We’ve got five or six first-team squad members out for the Downham game,” continued Scales.

“But it is what it is, sometimes you have to make do with you have and a lot of the squad are very young, and are still getting to grips with senior football.

“The majority of them have only ever played at under-18 level before so they are still finding their feet.

“It has been tough, but the boys will be in good stead for the experience in the future.”

Scales’ realistic aim for the remainder of the season is to lift the Peckers up into the mid-table reaches, something he thinks is certainly do-able, alongside Suffolk Senior Cup success.

A shining light in Woodbridge’s stop-start season, the Peckers advanced into the last eight of the highly-regarded competition recently after triumphing 2-0 away at SIL Senior Division side Stanton.

“The boys stood up really well to a physical Stanton side, and I was very proud of them,” added Scales, whose side will travel to Crane Sports in a quarter-final tie on March 7.

“I like the Senior Cup, it’s a nice goal for clubs to strive for at the end of the season, and we’d like to go as far as we can.”