Spartans midfielder Neal Hooks was delighted to bounce back from the heavy defeat at Worksop Town during the week after his side won a hard fought contest against Stafford Rangers at Croft Park today. The performance of Hooks was one of the highlights of the 1-0 win and he feels his side are starting to feel the benefit of the new passing style managerial duo Paddy Atkinson and Tom Wade are trying to impose on the Spartans players. Hooks commented “The coaches are encouraging us to play more keep ball, keep possession of it and move the ball around the pitch with more patience. If we have the ball the other team can’t score, it sounds simple but we are working on that and hopefully we can carry on improving. We still have a way to go to be where we want to be but we will get there as a better footballing side.”
Hooks and midfield partner Shaun Vipond put in a steely shift in the engine room today and Hooks was quick to praise the former Workington and Carlisle United man as they begin to gel as a partnership. He said “I’m enjoying playing in there with him. Me and Shaun have experience of playing at a higher level and we know it’s taken time to us to gel but we are enjoying it in there and we will keep it going”.
Reflecting on the win as a whole Hooks feels there is still room for improvement for his side but was happy to come out of a tough game with all three points. It was in fact a win that meant Spartans are undefeated in four games on their home patch and raised morale after the defeat in midweek. The former Spennymoor man said “It was a hard fought battle and we know we didn’t play at our best today but the important thing after what happened on Wednesday was to take all three points.” He went on to praise goalscorer Ryan McGorrigan by saying “He has come in and done really well, he’s impressed everybody and hopefully he can continue to get us goals because he deserved it today”