FABIO SARAIVA says he is confident that Merstham will be up there in the promotion shake-up come the end of the season, despite an indifferent start.
The Moatsiders have struggled for form in the early part of the campaign, leaving them in the bottom half and off the pace at the top of Ryman League Division One South.
But two wins in a week against strugglers East Grinstead Town and Walton Casuals have pushed Merstham up to 11th, with the Moatsiders skipper adding that there is more to come from the team, who have now won three games in a row in all competitions.
"Winning is a habit and hopefully we can keep it going," he said.
"It is still early days in the season, but it is not good to get caught too far behind.
"But we are getting in the groove now as we get to know each other and how we play, and I am sure that we will be up there come the end of the season.
"We have a good team and a good team spirit and I have no doubt that we will be up near the top at the end."
And Saraiva, who has previously had trials with Championship side Charlton Athletic, feels that the quality within the squad at Moatside is good enough to mount a promotion push.
"The pleasing thing is we are scoring goals," he said.
"We are always likely to score goals because of the quality we have going forward, but we have to cut out the mistakes at the back.
"If we do that, we won't go too far wrong."
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old, who has now netted 11 goals in all competitions for Merstham this season after his penalty in the 5-2 win against Walton Casuals on Tuesday, says he is enjoying being captain this season, having been handed the honour by Moatsiders boss Hayden Bird.
"It is a good experience for me," he said.
"I am only young and a lot of the guys are older than me, but I want to keep improving and my leadership is one of the things I want to improve.
"This allows me to do that and I just want to keep helping the team to win games and move up the table."
