Wayne Anderson has promised that his Fakenham Town players will bounce back on Saturday following one of their most difficult afternoons of the season, writes Gareth Davis.

The Ghosts lost 4-0 at home to Stanway Rovers five days ago on an occasion that saw them concede four goals after the break and “buckle”, in the eyes of their manager. Now they travel to Haverhill Rovers this Saturday and will look to put the heavy defeat behind them.

Anderson said: “Losing to Stanway hurt, but I guarantee that the boys will be on it when we travel to Haverhill on Saturday. Haverhill will be a tough test like every week is in this league but the tables don’t lie and we’re ninth for a reason.

“I said before the start of the season that we might lose more games than we win and that could happen but the games we do win, we will win with our hearts bleeding for this club and that’s how the boys have been playing for us this season.

“Coming up last season we probably wouldn’t have expected to be sitting where we are and the boys were disheartened by a 4-0 defeat, though Stanway deserve to be where they are in the league and they are one of the strongest sides we’ve come up against in the last three years.”

The defeat by Stanway saw Fakenham miss out on the chance to return to eighth in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division table after they dropped a place thanks to Mildenhall Town’s 2-0 win at Ely City the previous night.

Anderson is hoping that Lee Day will be fit to return at Haverhill after missing the Stanway game due to a hamstring injury. Sam Garner should also be available again.

Fakenham’s reserves are in home Anglian Combination Division Three action on Saturday against Costessey Sports (2.30pm).

They sit fifth after a fifth successive victory, 6-1 away to bottom side Thorpe Village – Callum Brain (3), Ricky Claxton, Connor Walker and James Page found the net.