Nikki Bull says he is backing Margate's players to bounce back after admitting the defeat at Chelmsford left the whole camp smarting.

The Gate boss was disappointed by his team's display in Monday's 2-0 defeat at the Melbourne Community Stadium, but says the good thing was that the players shared his frustration.

The Blues continue their Vanarama National League South campaign at Wealdstone on Saturday and Bull is fully expecting a reaction.

He said: "Yes it's a new team, and yes it will take a while to come together but if I'm honest, even though we beat Bath (the Gate won 1-0 courtesy of Alex Osborn's late winner) we've been a bit below where I was expecting us to be.

"In both games we've failed to impose ourselves on the opposition. It's certainly not been through any lack of effort because the squad I've got are a good, honest bunch but I am expecting a reaction after Chelmsford because I know from talking to a few of the boys over the past couple of days they were disappointed."

Saturday's opponents Wealdstone are a team much like Gate in that they have only three survivors from last year's squad.

Their close-season recruitment included signing former Gate pair Danny Green and David Hunt, but the latter will miss out on Saturday after suffering a hamstring injury which is set to sideline him for some weeks.

The Stones have opened their season with 2-2 draws against Dartford and St Albans with former Torquay and Swindon forward Elliot Benyon- a player long admired by Bull - on target in both games.

Neither Michael Thalassitis nor Elliott Buchanan - the division's top scorer last season -have opened their Gate account yet, but Bull says he has told the pair to relax and the goals will come.

He added: "If anything the two of them have been over eager (to impress), but as with all the players I've brought in I signed them because I believe they are good enough to play at this level and that view hasn't changed.

"I've no qualms about the quality of the squad, and I'm still confident we'll have a good season but I'd like to see us take what we've done in pre-season and training and replicate that in matches."

Other than winger Matthias Fanimo (Achilles) Bull has no injury worries and revealed that defender Danny Fitzsimons has been putting extra hours in on his own to step up his fitness.