NEIL Moss has called upon Cherries' 'big characters' to stop the slide.

Sean O'Driscoll's injury-ravaged side slipped to their third straight league defeat after they were humbled 3-1 at home by Colchester and dropped to sixth from bottom in Coca-Cola League One.

But the big keeper is not yet ready to hit the panic button just yet and believes the personalities in the squad now need to show their mettle.

Moss told the Daily Echo: "It is early days yet. Two weeks do not make a season but we need to put a stop to this run and do it sooner rather than later.

"We will need our big characters to pull us around. We have got a few injured and suspended but everyone needs to stand up and be counted. It is important that we don't let three defeats become four, five and six because it becomes even harder to stop it then."

The former Southampton keeper admits the side are shorn of some confidence at the moment but knows that a slice of fortune can suddenly change the complexion.

He said: "I think we are missing a bit of belief. We are training just as hard and are still preparing for games in the right way but for some reason that little bit of confidence has gone out of the side. We need to get it back because we don't look like the side that we did last season at the moment.

"We might just need a little bit of luck. The last two games we haven't really deserved to get anything but maybe a dodgy penalty decision in our favour, a deflection or an own goal or something might turn it around.

Moss was also honest enough to admit the loss of skipper Carl Fletcher was also taking its toll.

He said: "Of course we are missing Carl but he is not coming back so there is no point in talking about it. He was a massive player for us but we cannot harp on about it and use it as an excuse. We have to get on with things without him."

He added: "The players are a bit down but we have an ideal game next weekend at Sheffield Wednesday to go and start putting things right."

O'Driscoll said: "The players should be angry rather than disappointed. But there were a lot of positives to come out of the game.

"Defensively, we were poor in the first half but we made one tactical change at half-time and it solved everything - but I'm annoyed that nobody on the pitch took responsibililty to solve it.

"The final ball was fine, it was the final shot that was poor. But people were trying to shoot and if you don't shoot, you don't score. Sometimes they fly in and sometimes they don't."

Typical of football's unwritten law that returning players always perform well, ex-loanee Gareth Williams made one and scored another after his spell last season yielded just one brief substitute appearance.

He said: "It was just unfortunate circumstances that I didn't get much of a chance down here. I could have come back at another time and played much more. I was disappointed to come down and not be playing but I still had a good month here. The training was excellent and I like the manager a lot.

"But my mind is set on Colchester now. There might have been a small part of me wanting to show what they missed though so I was pleased to score."

First published: September 13