A 0-2 away defeat to Buxton will be seen as a negative outcome for many but to Spartans captain Wayne Buchanan there were plenty of positives, no more so than the performance of several of the younger members of his side. The likes of Damon Mullen and Darryll Donnelly started the game whilst Jake Turnbull and Daniel Maguire made appearances from the bench in the second half and showed that they can make an impact at Croft Park in the absence of first team regular. Buchanan said “Some of the younger lads have come in and done well, they’ve done a job for Paddy as he has asked them too. We just have to keep going and help them through it. Darryll did well alongside me at the back and he knows that he could have done a little better on the second goal but apart from that he was very good and it hasn’t really got to him that badly. People forget the likes of Tom(Berj) and Sam(Hodgson) are still only young themselves but they’re growing up quickly”
A third straight defeat for his side is far from ideal for Buchanan but as he has shown many times recently he prefers to be more positive and was keen to carry on that trend when analysing the defeat at Silverlands today. “It’s disappointing coming away with another defeat but when you look at how we played in the second half and how we passed the ball around we have to be positive about that. They were two very avoidable goals and we have things to work on in training. We have to keep going and it’s not always easy with so many inexperienced players but we can’t really fault them today”.
Spartans will return to Croft Park in their next fixture and Buchanan called on Spartans fans to get behind the side and turn out in force as they entertain fifth placed Rushall Olympic. Whilst Croft Park maybe hasn’t quite been the fortress he would have wanted this season, Buchanan was kean to stress the boost the backing of Spartans fans gives the side. He commented “When you have the fans behind you it lifts the players. We can’t stress enough the boost our home fans can give us. The young lads have no fear and will get on the ball at home and try to make things happen because of the no fear factor. We passed the ball much better today and we have to show that we can do that again at Croft Park next week”.