SHRIVENHAM manager Sam Collier wants his team to show that they’re much more than gluttons for punishments when they make another daunting away trip next weekend.

On Tuesday night, Shrivvy suffered the indignity of a jarring 8-0 defeat at high-flying Flackwell Heath and the fixture list doesn’t get any kinder this Saturday as Collier’s men travel to Reading to take on Hellenic League Premier Division leaders Highmoor Ibis.

The Barrington Park outfit may be a full 53 points behind this weekend’s opposition and go into the game having not tasted victory since November but Collier insists that his players have to believe that they’re not simply going to Highmoor to roll over.

“Tuesday was a poor game for us. We went there with the bare bones, with only one sub (Liam Jones) and six or seven key players missing,” said the Shrivenham boss.

“It was 2-0 at half-time and we were still in the game but then we conceded four goals in four minutes and were just blown away.

“It’s not a game that we were targeting and anything we got there would have been a bonus but we were obviously still really disappointed with it.

“As happens when you’re down the bottom of the league, things don’t get any easier for you and we have to go to the team at the top of the league on Saturday.

“It’s obviously going to be tough but we can’t go there still feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re not going there just to roll over and I want to see a reaction after Tuesday’s poor show.”

Charlie Basilone returns from injury for Saturday’s game at Highmoor whilst fellow defenders Craig Bowden and Andy Bilko, and midfielder Steve Olphert, could all also come back into the Shrivenham squad.

Adam Corcoran is still suspended whilst Sam Packer in unavailable.

Elsewhere, FA Vase heroes Highworth Town, who beat Tytherington Rocks 2-1 in the Challenge Cup on Tuesday, travel to sixth-placed Binfield this weekend.

Wootton Bassett Town go looking to bounce back to winning ways as they host Flackwell Heath, who like Highworth, have made it to the last 16 of the FA Vase.