Boss Davis demands a reaction from players
CHANGES could be afoot according to Stratford Town’s caretaker manager Paul Davis as the Bards head into three games in seven days, beginning with the Boxing Day trip to Alvechurch.
An impressive run of three straight wins that had hoisted the side into the Southern League Premier Central play-off places was ended on Saturday as they slumped to a 3-2 defeat at home to Bromsgrove Sporting – and the boss admits he is struggling to work out what went wrong.
“It was a disappointing day and the 3-2 scoreline probably flattered us with Weavo [keeper Jake Weaver] being the busiest he has been for a month,” Davis admitted.
“That is the poorest we have been for a long time and I can’t put my finger on why that was the case.
“It was the same team that played at Stamford with the exception of Callum Ebanks but Lewis Wilson has played in the Football League up front so he is no mug. If you can’t trust players from that level to play up front then you are not going to be able to trust anyone. He did OK but I thought we lacked that cutting edge in the final third.
“There’s no doubt we miss Callum. It’s the effect his name has on the teamsheet in the other dressing room and the way he carries himself on the pitch. I know that by his own accord he has struggled in front of goal this season and hasn’t scored as many goals as he would have liked, but he is an obvious threat in every game. But we knew we were going to miss him and that will be the case on Boxing Day as well at Alvechurch.
“I’ve said to the players that we’ve not really given goals away this season. Chris Hussey has made two mistakes that have led to goals and how often has he done that in his career let alone in his time with the club?
“Then you have Dan Lafferty needlessly giving them the ball that led to another chance. These are good players so I’m not going to harp on about it, we just need a reaction.
“We did have chances at the end and I think if we’d have played another five minutes we would have scored another but to be honest I think that would have papered over the cracks because we didn’t deserve to get anything from the game.”
The players were back in training on Monday ahead of Boxing Day and then Saturday’s match at home to Kettering Town. A frenetic festive period concludes with another home match with AFC Telford United on New year’s Day.
Davis added: “There might be some changes ahead of the Alvechurch game as we will also have an eye on the Kettering match because we won’t train between those two. We have been good for the previous three games and now we need to get back on the horse.”
Returning midfielder Ash Sammons came off the bench midway through the second half against Bromsgrove for his second Stratford debut with Dan Vann also coming on as a substitute after recovering from illness.
