Spartans full back Richie Slaughter reflected on the 0-3 defeat at Hednesford Town and insisted that his side brought about their own downfall as much as the home side’s qualities had. Tom Wade’s men conceded three sloppy goals against the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League title challengers, going behind as early as the fourth minute and Slaughter accepted that if Spartans are to improve they need to tighten up.
He said “You can see how organised they were and it was clear they were confident since they are going for promotion. We did ok in patches but you need more when you come up against the top sides in the league and that’s exactly what they are. The goals came from mistakes and we have to could them out, if we can do that we will be a much better team for it.”
However it wasn’t all one way traffic during the game and Spartans had several chances of their own with strikers Ryan McGorrigan and Dan Maguire going close along with a long range effort from Robbie Dale flashing past the far post. Slaughter wants his side to start punishing opposing defences but feels that if that is to happen they it has to be done with collective responsibility rather than as individuals.
The former Newcastle Benfield man said “We did create some chances and fair play to the lads up there, they kept grafting away. Ryan(McGorrigan) and Dan(Maguire) worked hard for us and we just need to start punishing teams for giving us chances. We get punished by other sides and we need to be more clinical but that’s not just down to the strikers it’s down to everyone”