Barkingside manager Steven Le Sage is looking for his players to show him they want to fight for the club ahead of their clash with Benfleet.

Side welcome the mid-table outfit to Cricklefield Stadium on Friday evening as they look to respond from back-to-back defeats in Thurlow Nunn League Division One South.

The boss is also eager to get their season back on track as they still look to push for promotion back into the Essex Senior League after being relegated last term.

Le Sage said; "Every game is an opportunity to get a step closer to our goal of promotion.

"The team spirit is still good and we've picked ourselves back up from the weekend's defeat which is good.

"What I'm really looking for from the boys is for them to show me and everyone else at the club that they have the desire to fight for this club, so I'm looking for a whole-hearted display Friday."

Barkingside have already come up against Benfleet in the league and cup with each side walking away with a 3-2 win from the two encounters.

"We played Benfleet twice, earlier in the season so we know a little bit about them," added Le Sage.

"They're a good attacking side, who we expect to fight to the end, so we're expecting a tough game.

"We lost to them in the league earlier this year and felt that we had done enough to win the game. However, we made some very rookie mistakes late on and paid the price.

"Friday will give us a chance to put those things right second time round."

They head into the clash on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Burnham Ramblers at Leslie Field last weekend, with Le Sage adding: "I feel we were underprepared for the game and it cost us.

"We had two key players pull out on the day, one at the end of the warm-up, and that definitely affected our preparations, as we had to make quick decisions and amend our tactics.

"However, that's not an acceptable excuse and we need to be ready for those situations. I felt we gave away weak goals and our game management needed to be better at the end of the first half.

"We put on a battling performance second half but the damage was already done, similarly to the previous game."

Barkingside will hold a minute's silence on Friday night for the incident that occurred in Seven Kings earlier this week which saw three people die from stabbings.