Boss Dave Carter lays down AFC Portchester points return marker from Wessex League Premier trips to Bournemouth and Alton

The Royals, without a league win in three league games so far, head to Bournemouth on Saturday before a trip to face Alton on their 3G surface four days later.

Despite it still being early days in the season, Carter stressed six points from their next two outings is a must if they want to be serious title contenders.

Portchester produced a solid display to hammer Wessex League Division 1 new boys Infinity 6-0 in the Hampshire Senior Cup first round in midweek.

But Carter says his side still need to defend much better and be more clinical in front of goal if they are to enjoy any success this term.

The Royals boss said: ‘It’s important for me, I’m looking for maximum points from the next two games, to be honest.

‘It’s two away games, but we’ve got to be putting maximum points on the board from these next two games, Alton is going to be a little bit different with the 4G pitch. If we’re serious about wanting to be up and around it at the end of the season then we’ve got to be taking maximum points from the next two games.

‘What I do know is we’ve got to defend better and we’ve got to take our chances in these games and that’s most important for me.

‘We’ve got to keep the ball better - we’ve got teams who are going to sit in and defend for their lives against us - but we’ve got to take our chances. Apart from the Brockenhurst game we’ve had plenty of chances in games and not really taken them.’

Attackers George Barker (two) and Lamin Jatta got off the mark this season, netting in the emphatic cup win over Infinity.

Carter has previously spoken of making sure the team do not become overly reliant on leading scorer Kieran Robers, who has netted seven times in six appearances this season.

And the Royals boss wants to see his forwards continuing to chip in with goals. Carter said: ‘It was good for Kieran to come on and score as well (against Infinity).

‘Lamin got one, George Barker got two - he should be scoring 20 or 25 goals in this league with the pedigree he’s got - but it takes time.

‘It was a good performance Tuesday, we needed to put one in, we created plenty of chances in the game, we played good football. It’s just finding our feet and now we’ve got to take Tuesday into Saturday and start putting points on the board.’

Both defenders Curt DaCosta (heel) and Conor Bailey are expected to train tonight (Thursday) and will be assessed ahead of the weekend trip to Bournemouth.

Zak Sharp could remain sidelined after missing the win over Infinity through illness.