What Baffins Milton Rovers boss Shaun Wilkinson wants to see from his team against Bashley after AFC Stoneham defeat

Fifth-placed Baffins welcome fourth-placed Bashley to the PMC Stadium on the back of their first away league defeat at AFC Stoneham (0-3) in midweek.

After their only other Wessex Premier loss this term - a 3-1 home loss to Horndean earlier this month - Wilkinson's side responded with an impressive 3-0 win at Shaftesbury in their following league fixture.

And the Baffins boss is ordering a similar bounce back with the hosts having the chance to leapfrog Bashley should they triumph.

Wilkinson said: ‘They’re tough (the games ahead). Like we did after the Horndean game, we had an unbelievable reaction at Shaftesbury and went and played our best stuff of the season. We need another reaction (on) Saturday.

‘Bashley are a good side, they’re a physical side, pretty much like Stoneham, they work hard and they had a good result themselves (on Tuesday) by beating (leaders) Brockenhurst.

‘There’s still so much football to play, it’s still very tight up the top. As I’ve said before I genuinely think there are teams in this league who could all beat each other this season.’

Baffins have already registered nine wins from their 13 league fixtures, losing just twice.

But Wilkinson is fully aware of his side's need to address their defeat on Stoneham’s 3G surface.

He added: ‘What I say to them (the squad) is if you’re going to lose you want to break the cycle (of defeats), you don’t want to lose two on the bounce, you want to break the cycle and see a reaction. Otherwise losing, like winning, can become a bit of a habit.

‘The lads are obviously disappointed (with the Stoneham defeat), the positives from that were we kept good possession, we still created chances and that’s the main thing.

‘We’ve been a free-scoring team this season, the only disappointing thing (against Stoneham) was we had a lot of play and possession in their half and didn’t really work the keeper.’

Injured trio Oscar Johnston, Jason Parish (hamstring) and Tommy Scutt (ankle) will all miss the meeting with Bashley.

The New Forest club have won six of their last seven league games and defeated table-topping Brock on Tuesday helped by a Harry Bunce brace.

Teenager Bue Bennett is Bashley’s 10-goal top scorer while River Smith and Lewis Aimson – the brother of Bolton defender Will Aimson – have been on target in recent games.

Baffins have some big games on the horizon – they host AFC Portchester next Wednesday and travel to leaders Brockenhurst on November 13.