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The Lions are back at Nethermoor on Saturday for the visit of Darlington and they look to come back roaring from a tough period of results with a win.
Darlington visit LS20 bang in form with five wins in as many games in all competitions knocking Trafford, Leamington and Tamworth out of the Emirates FA Cup with league wins over Alfreton and Boston United.
They name former Lion Will Hatfield in their squad with the midfielder opting to join The Quakers in the summer after four seasons at Nethermoor Park.
The Lions however are without a win in the last four games after defeats at AFC Telford United, Peterborough Sports and Gloucester City with a draw at home to Altrincham sandwiched in between.
Marcus Bignot and Russ O’Neill have had a depleted squad to pick from in recent weeks but are boosted by the return of Aaron Martin and Jamie Spencer from suspension for Saturday’s fixture.
There was however another injury picked up after Reiss McNally had to be substituted in the first half at New Bucks Head being replaced by Scott Smith who is available for selection again after the end of his loan at Matlock Town.
Following the defeat at Telford last weekend Marcus Bignot said “It is a disappointed dressing room but on days like this a lot can be learnt, it is important we learn from it as we are a very young group and it will only make us better if we take on the experience, understand it and look to make it right in training this week.”
“There are a lot of things we did well in the first half but in terms of understanding what it takes to win football matches we could have done a lot better, when you do not do the things required you will not win football matches.”
Speaking about Reiss McNally’s injury the Joint Manager said “He is on crutches at the moment, we will assess that, we know we are down to bare bones but it is an opportunity for players under difficult circumstances.”
Marcus was keen to mention the supporters who backed their side in numbers at Telford “You look at the scoreline and it suggests you could have possibly got booed off at the end of the game but that wasn’t the case, credit to the supporters I think they understand the situation we are in, we have always had a young group but we started on a high and hit a blip combined with suspensions and injuries all at once.”
Bignot stressed the return of the league’s top scorer cannot come soon enough for his side “We will have Aaron Martin back, which is really important for us, if you take that amount of goals out of a team anyone would miss it. It is not just his goals though, it is the person Aaron Martin and what he brings to the team, the way he applies himself, works hard, mentality, physicality, ability and his tactical understanding, there is a player there, it will be a welcome boost to get him back.”
Looking ahead to the visit of Darlington Marcus added “Let’s not get away from it we have got to turn these results around, it is an important week for us, we are going to work hard and things put in place for them to take into the next game.”
Kick-off is at 3pm with entry just £13 adults, £9 concessions, £5 U18’s and £1 accompanied U11’s. Programmes will be available for just £3 each, find a seller near the turnstiles on entry.
