FC CLACTON midfielder Louie Newland insists he and his team-mates are heading in the right direction.

The Seasiders slid to their fifth straight defeat, following Saturday’s 2-0 setback at home to Whitton United.

However, Newland, who returned to the starting line-up, says performances are definitely improvement.

And in terms of quality, he believes there’s more than enough talent within the squad to ensure the team do not get relegated this season.

“We’re getting there,” said Newland, speaking after Saturday’s defeat and prior to Tuesday’s Thurlow Nunn League premier division derby at Wivenhoe Town.

“We might not be winning games but we’re keeping clean sheets in halves and definitely improving.

“We just need to start taking our chances and being more solid at the back.

“Mistakes are costing us and we’re all under pressure, because of the way things have been going.

“But we’ve definitely got the capability to go up.

“Someone will catch us on a good day and get punished.

“Whitton are a really good side and yet we matched them, if not bettered them, for most of the game. We’ve cut them down to two preventable goals.

“We’ve done really well in our last three halves of football, but still not picked up any points.

“It’s promising and hopefully we’ll smash someone soon.

“I believe it will turn, because we’ve got too many good players for that not to happen.”

Despite losing, Newland believes he and his team-mates can take heart from the way they rallied in the second half against Whitton.

The Suffolk side had taken the wind out of their sails by netting twice late in the first half.

“Conceding twice like that was a kick in the teeth, but we reacted well,” said Newland, the older brother of Seasiders full-back Parris.

“A few weeks ago we might have gone into our shells and ended up conceding six or seven.

“We could have hated ourselves and rolled over.

“But we came out in the second half and had a real go.

“We rallied and even created a couple of chances after the sending off (of Tom Holdstock).

“Although it wasn’t the result we wanted, we’ve got to be positive and take confidence from that.

“The team spirit is still there and we feel we’re improving.

“Hopefully other people can see that, too.”