Yellows were 'too cocky'

The Yellows went into the relegation 'six-pointer' on the crest of a wave and full of confidence after going five Blue Square North games unbeaten in 2009.

But at Ewen Fields, Town were a shadow of the side that heroically drew with promotion-chasing sides Alfreton Town, Tamworth, Stalybridge Celtic and Southport, and then beat Stafford Rangers.

Instead they succumbed 2-0 and missed out on the opportunity to catapult out of the bottom three for the first time this season.

Chambers admitted that his team might have thought they were just going to turn up at Hyde and win.

"We were cocky and confident," he said. "That is not acceptable. The reason we have been doing so well is our workrate.

"I gave them a real blast at half-time. We weren't doing the things we have been doing well recently, like winning the second balls.

"In all honesty, it was a very poor performance. And I am very disappointed. But I am not going to slaughter the lads. It is one bad game out of six.

"We got found out on the day. But Hyde did not look a bad side. They have some quality players there. It is not the end of the world losing to Hyde.

"We have to knuckle down and try to bounce back."

However bouncing back will not be easy because Town's next match is away to the new tabletoppers Gateshead – before a crunch home match against fellow strugglers Redditch United.

The Tyneside outfit were promoted to the Blue Square North via the Unibond League, Premier Division play-offs last season and have been on fire this term.

Ian Bogie's side are far and away the top scorers in the league with 52 goals in their 28 games. They have 53 points – one clear of second-placed Tamworth.

And in striker Lee Novak, they have a player for whom Coca-Cola League One side Huddersfield Town have just forked out a six-figure transfer-fee.

The Terriers signed Novak last month but immediately loaned the hotshot back to Gateshead as part of the deal.

Novak has 18 goals in all competitions this season and is the Blue Square North's top scorer with 17 goals.

Town will be anxious to avoid a repeat of their last visit to the North East when they were walloped 4-0 in the FA Cup by Newcastle Blue Star.

And Chambers, a Geordie himself, is looking forward to the game. He said: "It would be just like the lads to go and get something at Gateshead.

"I have heard from a lot of people who believe Gateshead are the best team in the league. But I know quite a bit about them and remember, no-one gave us a hope against Alfreton, Tamworth, Stalybridge or Southport.

"The players want to bounce back. They were gutted after the Hyde game. They knew it was a chance to get out of the bottom three." But they will definitely pick themselves up.”

Chambers will welcome back Gary Ricketts for the trip to The International Stadium and he will probably resume his strike partnership with top scorer Danny Bacon, who was in midfield at Ewen Fields.

New signing Kevin Spriggs is in line for a debut after he was suspended last Saturday.

Chambers has no new injury-worries because captain Gary Sucharewycz is expected to recover from a kick to his achilles suffered against Hyde.