Talisman Connor Duffin's return provides massive boost with boss Michael Birmingham demanding major Horndean reaction at Bournemouth

The high-flying Deans were stopped in their tracks by a surprise 5-1 home defeat to Fareham Town prior to last weekend's 5-2 hammering at in-form Shaftesbury.

Boss Michael Birmingham, whose side still remain second despite successive league defeats, tore into his players in the wake of both of those losses.

In fact, the Horndean boss made it clear performances in their previous four matches have not been good enough – despite defeating Amesbury and Alton before their past two heavy losses.

But with leading scorer Duffin, who’s netted 26 times in 23 appearances this term, and the previously injured Brandon Miller returning for Saturday's trip to Bournemouth, Birmingham is hoping his troops can claim a first win in three attempts.

And the Deans boss believes it's a trip which will provide him the ideal chance to see the mental strength of his group following a difficult couple of weeks for all involved at the club.

Birmingham said: ‘I’m hoping to get back to winning ways, there are no ifs or buts, it’s going to be tough at Bournemouth Poppies.

‘The pitch and facilities are not wonderful and it would be massive (a win) for what I was very critical about in their (the players) mental approach (in recent weeks).

‘They’re going to have to start to listen (the players) because the past four games - I include Amesbury in that, Alton away, Fareham at home and I include Shaftesbury away - they’ve attempted doing it their way and forgot about what we’re all about. They’ve either got to listen up again, get the basics correct - which is what we did at the start of the season - if they think they can do what they want and don’t need to listen, by all means, see you later.’

Horndean's scheduled midweek Wessex Premier trip to rivals Moneyfields on Tuesday was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.