IT’S been a week of rest and recuperation for us.

It has been a very busy time for us and, without a midweek match, it was important we rested up.

The boys had Monday and Wednesday off and won’t be back training until this afternoon.

It’s what’s needed after nine games in 36 days and we’re facing three very difficult games in a row now.

Morecambe away comes first on Saturday and that will be a tough test.

You’re never too sure which Morecambe is going to turn up but if you get the good Morecambe then you will be in for a really hard game.

They beat us easily at Roots Hall earlier on in the season and won at Chesterfield last weekend too so it will be hard.

After that we face Gillingham, the team just above us in the table, at home before going to Lincoln who have been on fire lately.

All three will be tough and we have to realise we haven’t achieved anything yet.

There are still 14 games to go and that’s nearly a third of the season so we have to keep on going and churn out the results.

I was always confident we could get up the table, it was just going to take time for the team to gel together.

We also suffered injuries and lost our confidence at home but we’re doing better at Roots Hall now.

I would like to thank the fans for the part they’ve played in that because they have been getting right behind us and, last weekend, we had more than 6,000 there which is testament to the hard work we’ve all been putting in.

Results went our way in the week as well which helped, but a couple did sneak away from us.

It’s all about what we do now though and we will have to see how our injured players shape up for the weekend.

Kane Ferdinand has missed our last two matches with an ankle problem and he will face a fitness test today or tomorrow.

We will also check on Mark Phillips to see how his groin is.

The injuries we’ve had have given other players a chance to push their way in to the team but I have to say I was very disappointed by the way the reserves played at Aveley on Monday in the Essex Senior Cup.

It was their chance to stake a claim for a place in the first team and not one of them took it.

Nobody out there did themselves any favours at all.

FULL COLUMN IN THURSDAY'S ECHO