Dave Carter eyeing up morale-boosting win in Baffins Milton Rovers derby to provide AFC Portchester much-needed kick-start

The Royals' weekend defeat at Blackfield & Langley was their fourth in 13 league matches so far this term.

It's been a long way off the start boss Carter had desired in his first season at the helm - and he is now becoming concerned at how far his side are off the pace-setters in the division.

But a win at Baffins on Wednesday night, against a side who have won nine of their opening 14 Wessex Premier fixtures, could provide Portchester with a major momentum boost as they attempt to make up the 18-point gap between themselves in 11th and table-toppers Brockenhurst.

Carter said: ‘It’s a massive local derby. We need maximum points because we’re slipping too far away (off the top) - that’s what I feel. We need to put ourselves in for the challenge.

‘We’ll dust ourselves off and get things ready for Wednesday.’

Baffins have picked up just one point from a possible six in the Wessex Premier prior to the visit of Portchester.

Rovers boss Shaun Wilkinson has been surprised by the Royals' start to the campaign given the quality they have throughout the club.

He said: ‘Obviously Portchester is a massive club, ambitious chairman, good manager, good staff and top players.

‘I’ve said before, they will get it together in a minute, they’re more than capable of going to win 10 or 15 games on the spin - their players are that high calibre.

‘They haven’t started amazing, but they’re more than capable of pulling it back.

‘They’re finding out that they’re the big-hitters and teams are probably raising their game (against them).

‘They are a big club, they just haven’t started as well as they would have (liked). They’re very, very dangerous, they’ve got some good, good players in their team, they’ve got a top chairman and manager and they will get it right.’

Former Baffins striker Ryan Pennery missed Portchester’s weekend loss at Blackfield with a rib injury sustained in the midweek win over US Portsmouth. In his absence, new signing Clayd Roach was handed a first start at Gang Warily.

Royals skipper Steve Ramsey serves the second of a three-game ban for his recent red card at Horndean, which could mean another start for Gosport Borough loanee Mike Carter. Like Roach, he also started at Blackfield before coming off midway through the second half.