PAUL Tweddle is desperate for his troops to rediscover the winning mentality before it is too late.

Bridport are precariously positioned in the Dorset Funeral Plan League Division One relegation zone and are in danger of being cut adrift.

And the skipper believes his players are only just beginning to realise the severity of the situation with only half of the season remaining.

They visit third-bottom Swanage tomorrow (2pm) and must return with victory from what footballers would commonly call a six-pointer.

Tweddle said: "Things haven't gone the way we had hoped and it has been a bit of a stressful first half of the season with one thing and another.

"A lot of games have not quite gone our way. I feel we have been a little bit unlucky in that sense.

"In pretty much every game we have been in with a chance with 20 overs of cricket left. The only one I think we were totally out of was probably the Stalbridge game."

"We have been in a lot of games, right down to the wire but just come out on the wrong side. The Bournemouth game, maybe the Broadstone game and the match against Corfe Mullen could all have been wins.

"Everyone is now realising the actual situation that we have got ourselves into, whereas at the start of the season maybe they didn't.

"After the first game, which we won, everyone was on a bit of a high saying it would be easy and we would stay up no problems.

"Unfortunately from then on things have gone down and down. Now everyone realises that every point we can get will be very important to us."

At the mid-point of the campaign it is not hard to see why Bridport have been struggling.

Only four players have passed 50 with the bat and just three bowlers, one of which is sidelined for the foreseeable future with a knee injury, have an economy rate below 4.89 runs per over.

Add the two together and you have a recipe for disaster.

Each Bridport batsman that has walked to the crease has, on average, added 20.32 runs.

By contrast every opposition batsmen boasts 24.51 per wicket and they do so at a run rate of 4.52 runs per over compared to Bridport's 4.09.

If the batsmen are to save the club from the drop they will need to close the gap by putting a much higher price on their wickets but for the bowlers the remedy is not quite so simple.

Wickets generally improve as the season progresses and therefore the bowlers have already enjoyed the best conditions they can hope for all season.

Batsmen will be expected to improve their run scoring from now on and the Bridport bowlers will be charged with stemming the tide.

Rob Atkins heads the bowling charts with 16 wickets at a cost of 13.38. He also boasts the best economy rate in the side with 3.38 runs coming off each of his overs.

It is his example that Tweddle will be hoping the rest of the attack can follow.

Bridport: Tweddle, Atkins, Challis, Herbert, Backhouse, Russell, Stripp, Tozer, Herring, W Everitt, Dancer