The Wanderers were sent crashing out of the FFA Cup in the fifth round on Wednesday night when they were thrashed 12-0 by winless NPL One club Monaro at Riverside Stadium in Queanbeyan.

It continued a tough month for the Wanderers, who have suffered three straight defeats to kick off their NPL Two title defence.

Wanderers coach Dave Leonard is tasked with picking his group up off the ground from Wednesday night, and trying to get them up to defeat fellow winless outfit Weston Molonglo at Woden Park in Canberra on Saturday.

Leonard said focusing on the positives from their latest game is the key.

"I think what you've got to do is disregard the score and you've got to take the positives," Leonard said.

"We did so many good things, we're just so inconsistent.

"You've got to remind them about that, all the good things they do, the periods and patches they spoke about themselves where we were actually in the game, and there were periods where we were in the game.

"There is a lot of young guys and we're not used to getting beat by these scores. It does take its toll. The good thing about the group, because we spoke about our mentality and out attitude a couple of games ago, and they've been really solid. Again, it was really pleasing (Wednesday) night that they spoke about the things we weren't doing right and the things we need to do and we came out and had a better second half, which was pleasing.

"So I'm really happy with that side of things. Where prior to that the heads were down and we weren't coping with it the best way. That's definitely a positive."

The Wanderers were undermanned in the FFA Cup loss but Leonard also did not want to hide away from the disappointing scoreline.

MORE SPORT NEWS

"Obviously we didn't have our strongest squad but we were still pretty happy with the squad we took across, to be honest," he said.

"They were too classy, they were way too classy. We weren't quite up to the task. Again, in glimpses we were super solid but going down early goals, it doesn't help, not for morale anyway.

"We were probably never in the contest but showed glimpses so it's about working on that but it's hard to take, there's no doubt about that.

"They're semi-professional. Half their team's being paid, most of their players, we don't do that with our players. But its still hard to take.

"It's disappointing for the boys because I've got super faith in these boys but there is plenty of work to do. We know where we need to head and what we need to work on and it's all fixable."

Leonard said it was important that they forget about Wednesday night and go into Saturday confident of getting a result.

"We've got to go in with that mindset," he said.

"We've got to get off to better starts. Even when we won it last year, our starts weren't even good then. It's just something we've got to get better at because if we can not concede in the first 15 or 20, game's on. We're in our groove then.

"If we can get to that stage then I'm extremely confident we can take points. But we spoke about it, we've just got to get our mindset right, it's a new game, for competition points, this is what really matters so we go out with a positive mindset and go out and try to get the job done."

Jake Ploenges travelled to Canberra on Wednesday night but withdrew after the warm up with the calf injury he sustained in the loss to Yoogali last Saturday.

He is unlikely to play this weekend, while Jacob Ochieng is also doubtful with a foot injury. He sat on the bench for the entire of Wednesday night's game.

"It would be nice to go in with a full squad but that more than likely won't be the case," Leonard said.

"Again. I've got so much belief in these guys, I just think if they can put a game together then we're definitely going to be thereabouts."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: