Intensity levels too low

Harry Wheeler told how a dressing-room row was the catalyst for Maidstone’s FA Cup first-round fightback against Macclesfield. Stones boss Wheeler and No.2 Tristan Lewis were fuming with their side’s first-half display at the Gallagher as the League 2 Silkmen led 1-0. They went mad at the break, the players had their say and the reaction was brilliant as Maidstone fought back to win the game 2-1. Wheeler said: “We had a little bit of a physical rough-up in there and shook it up a little bit and had a few verbals. Sometimes you need that. “Sometimes you need to be nice if it’s not going well but (on Saturday) we needed to go in there and ruffle a few feathers at half-time. “Some of the players did that as well and that was the way to the reaction, we needed to be more intense. “In the first half they were more intense than we were and there’s no excuse for that.” Wheeler may appear levelheaded but he can lose it when he has to. He said: “Sometimes it needs to have a little bit more of an aggressive environment at halftime to get a different reaction, and we managed to do that. “It doesn’t come naturally to me as a character but it does when it’s down to my job, because it’s my life. “I live and breathe it and if they’re messing with something that might affect my career then it’s comes very naturally. “You affect my football results, it’s like affecting my family. “It was a fantastic response. I’m not taking the credit for everything at half-time – there’s players in there who got involved and did the right things – but it was a fantastic response and again it’s showing they’ve got that mentality to come back.”