Karl Bourke is confident the Colchester Gladiators can be a competitive force in division one of the British American Football League, despite a run of defeats this season.

The Gladiators are rooted to the bottom of the division one table and, with nine defeats and a tie to their name, look like they will be relegated.

But head coach Bourke feels they finished the campaign moving in the right direction and have what it takes to survive at this level.

He said it took the team's offensive unit too long in the season to start firing, but felt they were causing concern for sides by the end of it and that has given him encouragement that the Gladiators will be a force when they next make the move up.

The latest defeat came with a 36-10 home loss to the Oxford Saints.

Bourke said relegation was still to be confirmed as other teams have games remaining to be played, but it is most likely that the Gladiators will move down to division two east next year.

"That looks likely as Norwich will be promoted from there," he said.

"It is quite a big league, but it would be the favourite for us because it would be easiest in terms of travelling.

"The season has gone as expected really as division one is a very tough league.

"In fact, we got a tie from our opening game and that was more than we expected.

"We put some good stuff together in the last few games and even though the results don't say so, the teams were worried about us.

"Even against Farnham, we moved the ball very well, but we just couldn't finish it for points.

"It does give me hope for the future as the only team we weren't able to compete against was Farnham and they had come down from the premier division so were very strong.