Jensen Rogers, the Somerset Eagles coach, believes his side’s recent promising results will give them great confidence in their battle against relegation from the Premier Division.

Eagles have endured a season of inconsistency since gaining promotion, going from the sublime to the ridiculous, beating the likes of Dandy Town Hornets 1-0 in their league opener, while also suffering a 7-1 thrashing against PHC Zebras and a 4-1 defeat at the hands of North Village.

Those mixed fortunes have left Eagles second from bottom in the standings, however, with nine points amassed, they only remain one point adrift of eighth-placed Southampton Rangers outside of the drop zone and a further two points adrift of X-Roads in fifth-place.

Eagles head into the Festive break from league action on the back of sealing a Friendship Trophy semi-final spot, having eliminated Town in a seven-goal thriller, as well as claiming a surprise point in a 1-1 draw against unbeaten title challengers Robin Hood in their previous two matches.

It is that improvement in form that has given cause for greater optimism for Rogers.

“We’ll take huge confidence from those results going forward,” said Rogers, whose side face relegation rivals Southampton Rangers on their return to the league competition on January 5.

“We just to have to look at what we did right in those games, build on that and keep improving.”

Jensen also believes the league table gives a false impression of his side, citing a mixture of misfortune and player unavailability for their frustrating inconsistency.

“The table will show us as struggling, but from my point of view we’ve had a lot of bad luck,” added Rogers, who guided Eagles to promotion in his first season as coach last term.

“Coming into almost every game, I’ve had to make two or three changes for various reasons and then the result doesn’t go our way.

“Once we manage to get our full squad out on the field consistently, I’m sure we can start climbing the table.

“We have some very effective players and if we can stay in matches we always have a threat up front. As long as we stay disciplined, we will always give ourselves a chance.

“For us it is all about points, whether it is one or three, it all helps in building our total and moving in the right direction away from the relegation zone.”