ROSS WARNES says Oxted have nothing to lose this week as they take on title chasing Wimbledon at home on Sunday.
The O's are in fine form going forward at the moment, but their defensive frailties were still showing as they rescued a point late on in their crunch Conference East clash with Teddington on Saturday.
And the Oxted skipper said the team would need to tighten up collectively to get something against high-flying Wimbledon.
He said: "Offensively we are still looking strong and we were good from short corners on Saturday.
"But we still showed some defensive frailties and we need to take responsibility as a team and be more disciplined defensively.
"There are definitely areas we still need to improve on collectively if we want to achieve things, but coming up against Wimbledon on Sunday, we have nothing to lose."
Oxted had to fight back from 4-2 down at half-time to claim a 5-5 draw in the "classic six-pointer" on Saturday, with Andy Cornick netting the equaliser two minutes from time to salvage a point.
The O's had previously taken the lead through Mike Trim, before Teddington responded with three goals of their own, prior to Trim's second strike of the game.
Teddington then added another goal before the break to make it 4-2 at half-time, before Eugene Pelteret and Lorne Barnard drew the O's level at 4-4.
A Calum Giles goal, however, looked like giving the hosts the points, before Cornick's late strike rescued a point.
And Warnes says it was a point gained for his side in their push for a third place finish, adding that it was a closely fought match.
Meanwhile, the Oxted Ladies drew 2-2 with London Wayfarers in a friendly on Saturday as they prepared for a trip to face Barnes in the league this week.
But captain Lisa Nightingale said they were disappointed not to win the game.
"We had a few missed chances," she said. "Even the umpires were saying to us they couldn't believe we hadn't scored four or five.
" The O's go into this weekend's clash three points behind leaders Surbiton with only two games remaining in the Surrey Premier Division, with Oxted hoping for a favour from Surbiton's opponents, Wanderers.