Spartans striker Dan Maguire issued a rallying call to everyone at the club after a third defeat in seven days. The loss at Buxton ended an awful week on the back of the reverse at Grantham Town and the Doodson Sports Cup exit at Darlington 1883. Maguire was open and honest in his assessment of the performance in Derbyshire and pleaded with his team mates to “stand up and be counted” in the week ahead.
“It’s obviously a couple of defeats on the bounce now and that’s not good enough. We weren’t at the races again during the second half and we have to improve. Turning up late and rushing our warm up didn’t help but that’s not an excuse once that whistle goes. We have to improve over the next week and with the two games we need to stand up and be counted”
Just as in the defeat at Darlington 1883 Spartans were poor during the second half and that eventually cost them the chance to win the game. However at Silverlands they created several good chances in the first half with Maguire pointing to a golden chance right on half time as a potential game changer.
“If we score first then that’s the game I think. Sonny has had a great chance just before half time and if that goes in it’s a totally different game altogether isn’t it? We didn’t perform in the second half and that’s annoying but we have to put it behind us now”
Next up for Maguire and his team mates is a trip to Bedlington Terriers in the Northumberland Senior Cup on Wednesday. Spartans have a poor recent record in the competition with this season marking the twentieth anniversary of their last triumph in the competition. However Maguire wants to at very least get to a final at St James Park and pointed to the Green Army as the reason why he wanted success in the competition.
“We have to get a win on Wednesday at Bedlington and get ourselves through in a cup that we will be taking seriously. The players want to repay the fans for their support this season and getting to a final in the Senior Cup would hopefully go some way to doing that”