SAM Blackman is keen for Concord Rangers to hit top gear - starting with Tuesday night's trip to Braintree Town.

The Beach Boys make the trip to Cressing Road having triumphed in just one of their five National League South outings so far this season.

But Blackman is hopeful results will soon start to pick up.

“I don’t think we’ve really got out of second or third gear if I’m honest,” said Blackman.

“It’s been a strange one as we started the season with games in the FA Trophy and the FA Cup so I’d be lying if I said a lot of our focus wasn’t on that.

"I don’t think it’s affected us in the league but I do think you’re a little distracted when you’ve got an FA Trophy semi-final and the first round of the FA Cup.

"We’re getting there though and the performances as a team are getting better for longer periods in games.”

Concord sit 17th in the table, with games in hand on the majority of sides above them.

But Blackman is still setting his sights high.

“As a group we’re looking at the play-offs but whether or not we get there who knows,” said Blackman.

“You’ve got to set your target to be in and around it come the end of the season.

"Fingers crossed we’ve got the Trophy final still but with the league we all sat down at the start of the season and we want to be up towards the top come the end of the season so that’s still our aim.”

In contrast, Braintree are bottom of the table and parted company with manager George Borg yesterday. But Blackman is only focusing on Concord.

“I’m not really looking into that too much to be honest,” said Blackman.

“If we do what we know we can then we should beat them. But there are good players in this league and we know that anyone can beat anyone.”

However, Blackman wants the win he hopes can kick start the Beach Boys’ season.

“ We’ve got a solid batch of fixtures coming up now with Saturday, Tuesdays until the end of the month so hopefully we can pick up three points on Tuesday night and get the ball rolling in the league,” he added.