Anthony Johnson reflects on Moors’ defeat against Alfreton Town, as well as looking forward at a busy week when Moors travel to Chorley and Dagenham & Redbridge.
Johnson said: “You’ve got to reflect on the game, watch it back and ultimately, we’ve been done off three corners which reflected badly on everybody.
“You can work as much as you want, but once lads cross the white line, there’s got to be responsibility taken in terms of people’s roles or jobs. On Saturday, on three different occasions we didn’t do that, and we got punished.
“However, in terms of performance we went to Alfreton away, created six clear cut chances and performed well with the ball, so it’s just about what’s happening in both boxes.
“We seem to lack massive confidence in terms of defending set-pieces and we’re just not taking chances in the oppositions box, but we’re creating them and when you have players with quality like we do, it’s going to come good.
“On another day you keep a clean sheet, if Glen’s shot goes over the line it means we go 2-0 up and you’re probably going to win by four or five.
“We just seem to be on the other side of the line and when I’ve been watching the other Spennymoor games earlier this season, they seem to be on the other side of that line and that’s a confidence thing.
“Our job is to rebuild that confidence and belief that we can take into the next stage which is winning games.
“The problems on Saturday were set-pieces, so it’s about passing the key messages over and ensuring that lads understand those messages. The concentration levels must be high because about 40% of goals come from set-pieces.
“Set-pieces are a mentality thing, it’s not a coaching thing because you can mark for an hour in training and look brilliant, but then it changes when you’re marking someone who is 6ft 4 and 18 stone.
“The way to deal with that is through your own self mentality and own belief that we can do our jobs.
“Having an extra session on Saturday allows us to get bodies back, like Jude coming back from injury as well as a few others who are nursing a few knocks after a lot of games recently.
“If you include Alfreton, we’ve got five away games on the bounce and it’s a lot of miles, but we’ve got to find a way to pick up results on the road.
“It takes belief to go to these places and not lose first and foremost, then being able to build that confidence to go and win.
“The Dagenham game is a brilliant one for us, all the pressure is on them but what I’m looking forward to seeing is the apparent gulf in levels, because that is where we want to get eventually and in the next two years that is where we want to be.
“It also gives a good gauge as to where we are at across the board, in comparison to a team in a higher division.
“It’s a one-off game, so we’ve got to go there to win, we don’t want to be gallant losers coming away with everyone saying “you did well” because we want to be in the last eight of a national trophy.
“It’s an exciting game but we cannot look past Chorley on the Tuesday night, which will be a really tough game.
"It’s a one-off game, so we’ve got to go there to win, we don’t want to be gallant losers coming away with everyone saying “you did well” because we want to be in the last eight of a national trophy.
“We’ve been at the door seven weeks now, we were brought in because the team was failing to an extent, and we were hired to identify where there are problems and what we feel we need to do to fix them going forward.
“Unfortunately, there are victims in terms of players and personnel, like Tommy losing his job and me and Bernard losing our jobs at Chester, but this is the same with players.
“We believe that with the players we’ve brought in so far, that we’re starting to bring in lads that identify with what we want to do on the pitch and like I said unfortunately some players will fall victim to that.
“Glen Taylor’s contract extension was the first thing me and Bernard wanted to get done when we came in, making sure Glen was tied down for as long as we’re at the club.
“We make no secrets as to what we think of him as a player, as a man and as a human being.
“First and foremost, he’s an unbelievable bloke but on the pitch, he plays every minute of every game, never misses a training session and he’s scored in practically every game since me and Bernard have come in.
“If you wanted to build a team going forward, you want the best players in the league, the best players in non-league and he’s certainly one of them.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be able to build a side with him in it. There’s got to be balance with your signings and balance within your team, but Glen is pivotal and essential to all of that, so we’re over the moon to know we’re going to be working with him in the long-term.”
