Cox feels the players have looked anxious at times and that the effect of this has seen them miss good opportunities in front of goal and lose concentration elsewhere on the pitch.

After the draws at home to Bradford Park Avenue on Saturday and at Matlock on Tuesday, the boss felt there were times in both games where his side failed to capitalise on the possession they were having.

He said: “Against Bradford we should have been out of sight by half-time, but to be fair their keeper made two or three outstanding saves.

“Then we conceded and were chasing the game, though we did well to get level so soon.

“Against Matlock I felt we bossed the opening half-hour or so before they scored, but there were occasions where we looked anxious, such as when Ian Holmes hit a shot first time after cutting inside, when he in fact had a clear run on goal.

“At the end of the day it was a point away from home against a very good side, but the players couldn’t raise a smile after the game and we had to tell them to relax a bit.”

Eastwood were forced to bring in young goalkeeper Alex Goddard for the Matlock game after regular stopper Ian Deakin picked up an injury against Bradford.

Cox added: “Deaks wanted to carry on after he got injured, and at the end of the day it’s up to him. He made a couple of great saves in the second half.

“We couldn’t risk him on Tuesday though and Alex came in and did very well. We’ll have a look at Deaks in training but there’s a good possibility he’ll be back for the weekend.”

New defender Mark Hume was praised by his manager after two commanding displays since joining from Buxton last week.

Hume had been unsettled in the Peak District despite only moving there in the summer, and Cox was delighted with his new signing’s impact.

“Mark was being messed around a bit by Buxton and I’m pleased we managed to bring him in,” said Cox.

“He was outstanding against Bradford, managing to keep their big strikers very quiet, and against Matlock he again showed why we wanted to sign him.”

Eastwood travel to FC United of Manchester to play not only in a Football League ground, that of Bury, but also in front of a crowd likely to be upwards of two-and-a-half thousand.

They then host current league leaders Hednesford Town next Tuesday night in another mouth-watering clash.

Cox said: “We’ll be changing our approach to be a bit more adventurous at FC United, and hopefully relaxing a bit more. It’s a game for strong minds and we’ll be having a good go at them and aiming to keep the big crowd quiet.

“Hednesford have started with a bang and are a club with the resources and personality to stay up there, so Tuesday will be a big test.

“But we’re already in the chasing pack which is where we want to be. There have been some surprising results so far, such is the unpredictability of this league. I can’t see any one team running away with it, so we have to be up there challenging.”