JIM WARD can't believe what's happened in the first week of the new season.

Rams were full of optimism ahead of the big kick-off but have yet to fire in defeats at Walton & Hersham on Saturday and at home to Chipstead on Tuesday.

The boss is trying to take the positives ahead of a big weekend which sees Rams take on Godalming in an FA Cup qualifier at Southwood tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm).

Then they're at Chatham, who've taken six points out of six, on Bank Holiday Monday.

Ward said: "If I knew what had gone wrong I'd be a miracle man.

"Our passing and movement was spot-on during pre-season and we were scoring goals against good teams. Now this has happened.

"We were shocking for the first hour on Tuesday but I take heart from the last 30 minutes because we got on the front foot and should have got something out of the game with the chances we had."

Chips were no shrinking violets in the middle of the park but Ward would rather his side played their way through teams.

He said: "Ben Laslett, Warren Schulz and Aaron Beech are all footballers, we've never had a big hardman in the middle.

"There's an argument to change the way we do things but I've won things before without bruisers."

Ward loves the FA Cup – he led Rams to the first round proper back in 2005 – and he's up for another run.

The boss said: "Godalming are a good side and if we get past them we'll have Met Police, which wouldn't be easy either.

"We're not going to win the cup but we can certainly have a lot of fun in the competition."

As for the Bank Holiday game, Chatham are managed by Ward's old pal Paul Foley, who played for the Scot at Rams and Maidstone.

Ward said: "The last thing I want to do is lose to Foley – he's a pain in the a*** as it is!

"We're good pals. He phones me all the time and still calls me boss.

"Mind you, he'll probably be calling me something different on the touchline!"