With Dartford in one of the worst runs of his long tenure in the manager’s office, Tony Burman refuses to be despondent following recent defeats.

On Thursday, Burman brought in midfielder Jim Stevenson on loan from Luton Town following the news that Jason Prior was to be ruled out for weeks with a fractured ankle.

He has also added depth to his squad in recent weeks with goalkeeper Phil Smith coming in from Portsmouth; central defender Connor Essam, from Crawley Town, although Essam had a previous spell at Princes while at Gillingham, and a former Darts favourite, Dave Martin, brought in from Luton Town.

Martin had left the Darts for a league career, which took him to Crystal Palace and Millwall, before the club moved into their Princes Park home.

With the side on a seven game losing streak, Burman has a positive message for the supporters and wants to get back to winning ways against Forest Green Rovers in the FA Trophy this weekend: “We’ve got to keep believing, working hard, and build on what we’ve done.”

“We’ve had a couple of players come into the team, but lost a couple as well. We’re on a dreadful run, but with a performance and effort like that, keep your heads up and the results will come.”

“The expectation here can be a problem and there’s a few people who haven’t known bad times since we’ve been here at Princes, as it has been almost all good.”

“When you’re winning it’s all great together, but losing is the same. You can get in a rut and we were very unfortunate not to break it.”

“We’re having a real difficult period at the moment, but the crowd is really with us. Yes, there are a few comments flying about, but the crowd have been right behind us.”

With it being a November to forget so far, Burman will hope Dartford go into December with a spring in their step and a win under their belts.