TAUNTON Town may have lost 3-1 at the weekend, but Rob Dray certainly isn’t facing the same fate as Jose Mourinho after Manchester United’s defeat by the same scoreline at Anfield.

As boss Dray has remarked, the Peacocks are defying all expectations to sit top by five points going into Christmas week.

Before the season started, I thought scraping into the play-off places would be a decent achievement for the club; now a play-off place looks like a minimum requirement – that’s how well Taunton have done in their first season at this level.

They keep rebounding from setbacks – the end of the unbeaten run at Weymouth, the loss of Leigh Robinson to Truro, the 4-1 defeat at Metropolitan Police – and they will be looking to do that again this Saturday, having lost at Hartley Wintney last time out.

READ MORE: Hartley end Peacocks' winning run

But then you have to remember that the promotion contenders are losing games all over the shop.

Weymouth were beaten at home by Gosport Borough, Methyr Town haven’t won in four and Hendon have lost their last three.

Harrow Borough, meanwhile, have bounced back from their 7-0 tonking at Taunton by seeing off Merthyr and Beaconsfield Town.

And Met Police are up to fifth and looking dangerous; they have games in hand on all the teams above them, and haven’t lost since September 1.

Their last three league games have brought a point at Salisbury, a win over Tiverton and another victory away to Hendon.

Every team is going to suffer a surprise loss at some stage; it will be the teams who can put together a run of results, like Met Police’s unbeaten run or Taunton’s eight straight wins, who will be best placed to go up.

In short, who can be most consistent?

It’s about going into a two-game week and coming out with four or six points, regardless of how good the performances are.

The Peacocks have a full squad again – Ollie Chamberlain and Dan Sullivan back from injury – and that could well prove vital as they face Staines, Tiverton, Weymouth and Merthyr over the next fortnight.