Out-of-sorts AFC Telford United head to Southport for one of their toughest games of the season, with assistant manager Larry Chambers insisting: “We have to work harder.”

The Bucks make the trip to Haig Avenue tomorrow on the back of a demoralising 2-0 defeat at Stafford Rangers on Tuesday evening.

That was their first game of 2010 after three weeks of inactivity brought about by the prolonged cold snap.

But Chambers will not let his players feel sorry for themselves as they strive to turn around their Blue Square North campaign.

“The only way out of it is to work hard,” he said.

“We’ve got to keep working and working and, at the end of the day, you get your rewards.

“If we think we’ve worked hard for the last three weeks then we’ve got to work even harder now.

“Football’s not an exact science – sometimes you get the rub of the green and sometimes you don’t.

“But you can always put the work in and be a bit braver, and that’s what we’ll be instilling into the place.

“We need to get back to basics and cut out the bad decisions and individual errors that give the opposition encouragement.

“There’s a lot of anxiety about the place and too many players out of form.”

Midfielder Liam Blakeman remains a doubt with a badly bruised ankle, though Chambers and boss Rob Smith remain optimistic that he could be fit enough to play a part tomorrow.

Skipper and centre-back Stuart Whitehead is struggling with the hamstring strain that forced him to be substituted during the 2-0 defeat at Stafford Rangers on Tuesday evening.

Right-back Lee Vaughan completes a two-game ban, but leading scorer Andy Brown is available once again after serving his own one match suspension.

Loan signing Adam Dugdale, from Barrow, is in line for his debut, having been an unused substitute at Stafford’s Marston Road.