Hucknall Town need a reset says manager Andy Ingle after two games with no wins or goals

The Yellows' UCL Division One play-off hopes were rocked by a 0-0 home derby draw with Clipstone on Saturday followed by a late 1-0 loss at Birstall United on Tuesday and Ingle said: “Just before they scored I would have been happy with a draw as, by our standards, we were poor.

“We just couldn't get going at all after a decent start. We didn't capitalise or make any clear cut chances.

“But only losing 1-0 does show how far we've come as a few months ago we'd have been turned over good and proper.

“I just think we need to reset a bit now and work on a few things ahead of Saturday.

“To be fair we have only lost two out of the last 11 in this run, so we've not done badly.

“There is an overall picture and we are ahead of schedule. But we have set our standards and the defeat at Birstall was because we went below that standard.”

Star striker Craig Westcarr missed two penalties in Saturday's draw with Clipstone on an afternoon when the Yellows dominated but could not find a finish.

“We played some really good stuff on Saturday, but they were very good defensively,” said Ingle.

“They worked on getting two banks of four or a 4-5-1 to defend. The minute they lost the ball they got into a defensive shape.

“We still made chances but didn't capitalise, hitting the post and missing two penalties.

“For the second one we sent a message on to change the penalty taker, but the message didn't get over, so Westie took the second one and missed again which I wasn't too pleased with.”

At Birstall Hucknall gave a late brief debut to new signing, striker Jack Thatcher from Eastwood CFC.

“He scored a hat-trick against us in the Eastwood game and I have kept an eye on him as I liked his movement,” said Ingle.

“Jack fits the profile of the type of player we want up front in a three.

“He had a brief few minutes to introduce him quickly to what we want. It wasn't the right game for him but we wanted him on the field to get the nerves out the way.

“He is ready made and has played at Step 5. He had a good scoring record at Eastwood – 13 in 18 games but fell out of favour for whatever reason. I feel he was hard done to and that opened the way for us to snap him up, having sold him our project.”

On Saturday Hucknall head for Kirkby Muxloe who they beat 6-1 at home earlier in the campaign.

“They play on 4G and to be fair we normally play okay on that,” said Ingle.

“Some teams don't like those surfaces but we don't mind them as it enables us to play the football we want.

“Birstall's pitch on Tuesday was the worst I've seen in a long time. It was tantamount to a cow field. In their defence they admitted it but they play on it regularly and adapt.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​