A open and honest Wayne Buchanan admitted that Spartans had been well beaten and deserved to be knocked out of the FA Trophy by Witton Albion today. The Spartans skipper felt that his side just weren’t good enough on the day and must now look to put the defeat behind them as they head into Monday night’s FA Cup replay at Workington. Buchanan commented “We just didn’t compete at all and they wanted it more. It just wasn’t there at all from us from the first to the last minute and it’s not good enough. They deserved the win no doubt about that at all. We have to wipe it clean and it’s disappointing to be out of the trophy but we need to move on.”
Buchanan found himself playing alongside his fourth different partner at the heart of the Spartans defence as new signing Darryll Donnelly added his name to a list already containing Carl Jones, Jordan Mellish and Joe Kendrick and Buchanan praised the performance of the twenty two year old former Whitley Bay man. He commented “Darryll did well and you have to remember it’s a very hard game for him to come into. He trained on Thursday and has good technique and is a good player. He needs more time with the group and hasn’t been helped by us being under pressure so much today but he has made good blocks and some strong tackles which will hopefully do his confidence the world of good.”
Being knocked out of the FA Trophy was hardly ideal preparation for Monday night’s FA Cup replay at Workington but Buchanan feels that his side need to get the defeat at the Help for Heroes Stadium out of their system as soon as possible and move on to a massive game at Borough Park. The former Bolton Wanderers man said “We can’t dwell on today, we have injuries but we can’t make excuses and move on to Monday. I think if you strip it all down we need to go out and show some heart. To have a chance on Monday we need to show determination and fight for each other. Today it wasn’t there and we have to go out and show it on Monday. We have to move on because it’s the FA Cup and it’s part of this club’s history so let’s go out and make it happen”.