BRIDGWATER Town boss Craig Laird feels his players have set their own standard following their encouraging performance in the derby against Taunton Town - and says their season starts now.

The Robins were just seconds from taking a deserved point away from the the Viridor Stadium on Saturday, before a brief lapse in concentration defensively allowed Ollie Chamberlain to net in the dying moments and meant they left with nothing.

It would have been only Bridgwater’s second point of the season as they remain rooted to the bottom of the table after losing four of their first five games in Southern League Division South & West.

Meanwhile their scheduled home clash with Slimbridge on Bank Holiday Monday was postponed due to the visitors getting stuck in severe traffic on the M5.

Laird said: “The lads played well at Tuanton but you can’t do it just for 89 minutes – you have to do it for the full 90 and, unfortunately, we weren’t quite good enough to do it.

“We worked on a game plan in training for the match and, to be fair to the boys, they carried that out to the letter other than those few seconds at the end.

“We played a different type of game; we tried to play a counter attacking game and contain Taunton, who are a good side. We thought we’d got our tactics spot on.

“But, unfortunately, that’s youthfulness and these experiences will make them better players.

“The lads have set their own standard now and the aim now is to do it consistently.

“We’ve had a real tough start with the fixtures but for me our season starts properly now – in that we’re going to be competing with clubs on similar sorts of budgets and those are the games where we really need to try and get points from.”

Town, who are out of this season's FA Cup, are not back in league action until Saturday, September 10 when they visit Yate Town.