THE players are to blame for Weymouth’s disappointing start to the season, according to striker Ben Joyce.

The former Salisbury City man made the admission after Wednesday night’s defeat at Frome Town and reckons things need to change quickly before the club finds itself adrift at the wrong end of the table.

Joyce, whose side travel to Basingstoke Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup tomorrow (3pm), told Echosport: “Looking at our results so far it doesn’t look good and as a team we know we are better than that.

“In the last two games we have played some great football at times but it has not got us points.

“At the moment we are enjoying plenty of possession without creating many chances but even more concerning than that is the fact we are now expecting to go one down all the time because it has happened so often.

“In many ways it has become a mental thing and we need to put a stop to that.

“Technically we are one of best sides in the league but at Southern League Premier Division standard, first and foremost you have got to be strong and solid.

“We have some good players but we need to start performing and quickly, otherwise we could find ourselves struggling down the bottom all season which would be a crime because we are too good a team for that.”

Joyce went on to add: “If it was purely down to quality of football we would be top of the league but it is not, it is down to results.

“We have four or five players in the team that have got promoted from this league in the past but at the moment you wouldn’t think that and everyone needs to take a look at themselves and ask are they doing enough.

“Obviously none of us are because we are not winning games and it is clear we have got to do a lot better.”

When asked whether the change in system to a 4-2-3-1 formation has been part of the problem, Joyce said: “For me personally, since the change I have not been getting as many chances but everyone has their opinions.

“The management team is doing what it thinks is right and I don’t think they got it wrong because the five in midfield has allowed us to dominate large periods of games and play a lot more football.

“However, for some reason in the last two games we haven’t created enough and obviously that needs to change.

“It is easy for people to point to the system but when it comes down to it, it is still 11 versus 11 out there and we have more than enough quality to break teams down.”

The Terras are major underdogs ahead of this weekend’s clash against their Blue Square Bet South opponents but Joyce is hoping the change in competition will help to galvanise the troops.

He went on to say: “We haven’t got a league game now for a couple of weeks and it might just do us some good.

“If we can go away tomorrow and get a positive result and do the same at Tiverton Town in the FA Trophy the following Saturday then suddenly we would have a lot more confidence.

“In football it takes just one 90 minutes to turn things around sometimes but we need that to come sooner rather than later.

“Basingstoke may be in a higher league but we cannot go there thinking that just because of that we are going to lose.

“At the end of the day they are where we want to be and we need to go there and show people we are capable of matching teams of their level.”

Scott Walker (ankle) and Sam Poole (groin) look set to miss the trip to Basingstoke through injury alongside long-term absentee Ashley Wells.

Terras (from): Evans, Povall, Jeannin, Critchell, Clarke, McConnell, Dixon, Sharpe, Clay, Reed, Duff, Smith, Joyce, Groves, Ford.