“We’ve got to do better in front of goal”

Nathan Haslam agreed that it was a case of ‘job done’ in the League Cup tie against Second Division strugglers Durham City but acknowledged that his team need to be more clinical in front of goal. “It’s always a potential banana skin, this type of game. We’ve gone with a strong team and brought some of the young lads with us. It’s just nice to give them an opportunity and again they’ve not looked out of place. But yes, we made hard work of it in the first half. We created chances but have not put them away, going in at half time at 1-0.

“We got the second goal and that gives you a cushion but then we switched off on a corner (for their goal), it was really sloppy. We did get our act together by the end and it could have been a few more. Getting a hat-trick was great for Brad. His attitude has been superb and he fully deserves it. The pitch was difficult, it was a bit of a leveller. I don’t think we were going to play the attractive football that we like to on there, we had to compete with the conditions and we did. I think that was a nice part of the game, we really worked hard then as the game went on we could relax a little bit more, so yes, they were difficult conditions.

“Some decisions have gone against us but that’s the way it is, it’s nice that we’re attacking and getting chances. We’ve got to keep creating and take that into Saturday and every game we play and as long as we’re creating there’s an opportunity to score. The word is now that we’ve just got to do better in front of goal, we’re doing everything else right and if we do better in front of goal we’ll be able to string some wins together. We’ve got a group of young lads who’ve got strong legs, they’re competing and working hard and that’s what we’re going to need during the winter so it’s all good preparation for them.

“Craig Spooner and Tom Bramley picked up slight knocks tonight and we need to analyse James Proctor’s progress back from injury, there’s nothing too serious, just nursing little injuries. Tom Graham need a scan on a knee problem, Angelos we’re looking around December maybe Christmas time for him. They’re the two long term casualties.”