LEE Wood believes his ‘work in progress’ Gornal Athletic side can challenge for promotion as his players continue to develop.

The Peacocks have had a good start to the West Midlands League Division One season picking up four wins and two defeats in their first six matches – including victories over fellow title-chasers Team Dudley and Worcester Raiders.

A 3-2 victory at Allscott AFC on Saturday leaves Wood’s outfit sixth in the table and just four points behind the league leaders – a far cry from when the manger took over the team two weeks before the start of the season and with just five players at his disposal.

“We are where I think we should be,” Wood said. “We’ve had some good results against the top teams, but we are a developing squad.

“Most of our matches so far have come against the teams who I expect to finish in the top half of the table and we have more than held our own, but there are still improvements I want to make.

“On Saturday we started off well and took the lead in the second minute. We probably scored too early because we let Allscott get back into the match before half time.

“I don’t know if the players got too comfortable and thought it would be easier than it was, but I spoke to them at half time and we came out the better side again, going 2-1 up.

“However the same happened again and they equalised, which I wasn’t too pleased with, but we rallied and got a goal late on. It was a really scrappy game and sometimes it’s just best to get an ugly win.”

Gornal face another away match this weekend as they travel to Telford Juniors, with Wood calling for an improved performance from his players.

“It will be tough again on Saturday, away matches always are in this league, but we will hope to make improvements from the last game.

“We have had a lot of rotation in the club over the last couple of months, with the upturn of players and myself coming in, but I feel we are beginning to get settled and can push on from here.

“I feel we are doing well, especially considering when I came in two weeks before the start of the season we only had five players!

“I’m happy with the team at the moment and I will focus on working with these players to get the most out of them, but we are always looking at ways we can improve the squad.”