ILFORD boss Colin Walton couldn’t take any positives from Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Wingate & Finchley and warned his side he will be forced to make changes if their complacency continues.

Although The Foxes have had a period of tough games, the Cricklefield boss feels his side have let their previous five-game unbeaten run get to their head.

“We have had a recent run of poor form which is very disappointing after the great strides we had made a few weeks back,” he said.

“Some sloppy individual errors have come into our game recently. To me, the players have become a little complacent and there is no room for that.

“There could be a couple of players joining in the coming weeks as we need to improve, but the run of games doesn’t get easier.”

Walton takes his side to an East Thurrock team at the weekend which has narrowly missed out on promotion for the last two seasons.

“We are coming up against some tough teams of late and it shows no sign of easing up with another tough test on Saturday,” said the Foxes boss.

“No games are easy in this league, but it is no secret that we need to start picking up the points again.

“East Thurrock will be tough, as, although they are a side who have, suffered a bit of a blip in the league recently, they have all the credentials of a promotion-winning side.

“If we get a point from Saturday’s game I will be pleased and hopefully it would show signs of improvement.”

Ilford took the lead on Saturday, thanks to the returning Liam Thomas, but went downhill in the second as they conceded three times, which left little for the former Clapton boss to take from the game.

“Apart from the goal we hadn’t played our best and quite rightly we didn’t deserve anything from the game,” he said.

“We have played poorly in previous games and almost looked like winning but it wasn’t to be.”

Goalkeeper Pape Diagne (pictured left), who had previously talked of leaving the club, was at fault for one of the goals on Saturday, but remains a key squad member with fellow keeper Rob Budd suffering from a shoulder injury.

Ilford visit Conference South side Braintree Town in the Essex Senior Cup on Tuesday.