Hinckley AFC manager Courtney Belford says his side need to regain their desire, character and fearlessness going into the final six games of the season.
AFC lost their perfect record at Kirkby Road after a 2-0 defeat to Radford, just five days after losing to Belper United by the same scoreline.
Those defeats brought to an end a run of 13 straight wins – and Belford felt his side were too fearful in both of those performances.
He said the lack of creativity in the last couple of games was the biggest concern from the defeats. He said: “When you’re not creating chances having done that in every game so far, when you’ve had the confidence to go and play and that stops out of nowhere.
“People have hidden a bit, and been fearful of making a mistake. That desire and character is the most disappointing thing. We’ve conceded goals in the last month or so which has been unlike us.
“You learn so much more about people when the pressure’s on, including myself. I’m a young manager, it’s the first time I’ve been in a promotion chance. So I’ll question myself, and Joe and Ryan, after every game whether that’s good or bad.”
Hinckley were knocked off the top of the table that they have led for much of the last four months – and Belford says his side haven’t dealt well enough with being chased in the last couple of weeks.
“We didn’t land a glove on Belper and it was the same against Radford. Is it that little bit of pressure? When you go on such a run you’re there to be shot at and we’re not dealing with that.
“Everybody expected us to do well at the start and we didn’t deal with that. Then the shackles were off and we went on a run, now the pressure is back on we’re not dealing with it.
“It’s out of our hands now to win the league. We’ve still got a chance of getting promoted but we’ve been outfought and outbattled twice in a week and that’s tough to take.
But he says his side won’t feel sorry for themselves and will regroup ahead of their trip to West Bridgford on March 29th.
So does the manager think it’s a good time to have a ten-day break?
“Yes and no!
“You want to get straight back and play again but it’s time for us to re-assess.
“Do we need to bring someone in to see us over the line and get more of an ‘oomph’? It seems a bit flat at the minute.
“It’s been difficult to leave people out of the squad, but that’s been made easier by performances. We didn’t think we needed to get anybody else in but clearly something isn’t quite ticking at the moment.”
