With a week of cup action we caught up with player and Head Coach Gavin Rothery to discuss being knocked out of the FA Trophy and a look ahead to another big FA Cup tie, this time away at National League North Chester FC.
We fell to our first competitive defeat of the season at North Shields, what’s your thoughts on the game and the performance?
Yes first defeat which is always disappointing, you want to win every game you play in. We tried to freshen the team up a bit and give some of the boys some minutes who might not have played as much as they will have wanted yet.
But I thought we started pretty slow first 15 mins, the long bus journey probably didn’t help but after that we were the better team and created a few really good chances when we got the ball down and played. We could have easily gone in to half time in the lead. Obviously another red card doesn’t help, so down to 10 men with still all the second half to play is not ideal. However, I thought we were the better team and looked like we could go on and win the game. We got caught on the counter attack towards the end trying to find an equaliser, but the second half was a good performance and we have to take the positives out of that now and go again on Saturday.
Despite the defeat there were positive performances, how key is it to start putting together full 90 minute performances together?
Yes like I just mentioned some really good performances in the second half especially. We need to try and score the first goal in the game and perform better in the first halves of games. We’ve shown the capability we have in the squad to come back a number of times now but we need to make it easier for ourselves by not conceding first in games.
We continue cup action with a big trip to Chester FC this weekend, can more magic be made in the FA Cup?
Yes of course, Chester are a good side, two leagues above, but if we perform to the standards we know we’re capable of then we can get a result on the day.
Do you have a message to supporters making the trip or to those thinking of coming and backing the boys?
It will be great to see as many fans there as possible cheering us on! The fans have been brilliant so far this season and it helps us out massively on the pitch knowing they are supporting us. It will be a great game for the club again so if you can make it come and get behind the lads on the day!