Jonathan Redhead Lowestoft Town joint boss Micky Chapman insists talk is cheap as he looks for a reaction from his side this afternoon. The Blues travel to Great Wakering Rovers after a dismal week to date which has seen them hammered 5-0 by closest rivals Concord Rangers on Tuesday, before losing their Championship Manager Cup quarter-final clash at Croydon Athletic on Thursday.

Jonathan Redhead

Lowestoft Town joint boss Micky Chapman insists talk is cheap as he looks for a reaction from his side this afternoon.

The Blues travel to Great Wakering Rovers after a dismal week to date which has seen them hammered 5-0 by closest rivals Concord Rangers on Tuesday, before losing their Championship Manager Cup quarter-final clash at Croydon Athletic on Thursday.

But they still remain on top of the Ryman League Division One North table on goal difference as they head to Essex today, and Chapman is urging his men to ignore any chat of their supposed imminent demise as they bid to return to their pre-Christmas best.

"Great Wakering Rovers away is another tough game," Chapman said.

"They and others will have seen the result on Tuesday and will all be thinking 'Lowestoft are slipping up.

"We're already hearing it. People turn on a pinhead sometimes.

"One minute you going to walk away with it, the next minute you get a bad result, but talk is cheap.

"But we've got to concentrate on ourselves.

"When you get a bad result, you look for a reaction in the next game and we're looking for a big reaction, not just in the next game but the next 15 games."

"We're looking forward to the game.

"You can't wait to get back on the pitch after a performance like Tuesday to try to put it right and that's what we'll be looking forward to doing."

The Blues rested several key players for Thursday's defeat to Croydon, while the likes of Jack Marsden, making his first appearance of the season after injury, Jamie Forshaw, Danny Bloomfield and Scott Mitchell were able to make their case for a starting berth this afternoon.

And Chapman admitted that Tuesday's thrashing at Canvey Island has given the Blues management team of himself, Ady Gallagher and Craig Fleming plenty of selection decisions to make.

"We've got a strong squad, and if players aren't going to do what you want on the park then they'll be looking over their shoulders because there are people waiting to take the shirt off their backs," he said.

"We're in a strong position at the moment and we've got people chomping at the bit and we've got some tough selection decisions to make.

"All players from Tuesday will be thinking about whether they'll be playing.

"But we haven't stopped believing in the squad.

"You don't become bad players overnight and we haven't stopped believing in our squad.

"We know they're a great bunch of lads and we know they've got great quality and Tuesday isn't going to change that at all.

"It's a big test of character now. We need to get back to basics.

"We know we've got quality individually and as a unit but we've got to start doing the basics again, first and foremost.

"And that's hard work, shape, chat, organisation, tempo and just getting back to doing the simple things.

"We need to make sure we're hard to break down and get back to what we were doing earlier in the season - and that's not conceding goals.

"If we do that, as a unit, our quality will hurt a lot of sides."

Town left-back Adam Smith, injured at Concord, is likely to be fit enough to return to the match-day squad.