Stephens: We want winning feeling

MACCLESFIELD Town midfielder Ben Stephens admits the team have been disappointed with some of their last few pre-season results.

The Silkmen suffered a 1-0 defeat to Altrincham last week, before following that up with a 2-0 home loss to Premier League side Burnley on Friday. They were then due to take on Wrexham as the Express went to print on Tuesday.

While they may only be pre-season matches, Stephens says his side want to win every game and were frustrated not to do that.

“It’s only pre-season but everyone wants to win. We’re disappointed that we haven’t won the games, but on the other hand we’re getting minutes under our belt,” he said.

“Everyone is available and everybody is working hard ahead of the season. We’re all just trying to get as many minutes as we can.”

Stephens played the final half hour during the game against Altrincham last week, and even though it was a friendly, he felt it was a fiery encounter.

“There were a few tackles going in - you could tell it was a derby. It’s pre-season but everyone wants to win every game and unfortunately we couldn’t manage to do it that time,” he said.

“It was a really competitive game, which was just what we needed. We saw that there was a great showing of fans and we appreciate everything from them.

“We’ll need them this year through the tough times, but hopefully we can bring them some good times to enjoy too.”