Herbert wants improvement
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RUNCORN TOWN produced a poor performance on Saturday en route to collecting only a point against relegation-threatened Nelson in a 1-1 draw.
Chris Herbert’s side have been in terrific form this season and remain one of the favourites to win the Hallmark Security League Premier Division title.
They currently sit in fifth position, six points behind leaders Bootle with two games in hand on the Bucks.
But disappointed boss Herbert described his team’s performance on Saturday as “terrible” and says they have to improve if they hope to finish at the top at the end of the season.
“It was a good draw because we didn’t deserve anything out of the game and it was an extra point but we were terrible,” he said.
“If you want to win the league you have to improve. Nothing changed in our league situation, though.
“If anything, we gained a point on Northwich so we were lucky in that way.
“It was just a terrible performance. We had chances to go two or three up in the first couple of minutes.
“We have to take those chances if we want to win the league.
“Without Craig Cairns, we struggle to put those chances away. We really miss him.
“We had to take him out on Saturday because he’s been struggling with injury all season.
“We can’t rely on him, though. Someone has to step up and take over the responsibility and so far they haven’t.”
Town have had little time to recover and were set to visit AFC Darwen last night in a rearranged league fixture.
They then turn their attentions to Ashton Athletic on Saturday. The last time the two sides faced each other, Town were knocked out of the Macron Cup falling to a 2-0 defeat back in November.
Herbert hopes his side can regain consistency and if they play to their usual standards, the manager expects to see a positive result.
“We haven’t been able to train before Wednesday’s game because our pitch has been unplayable due to the weather. It wouldn’t surprise me if the game was called off,” said Herbert.
“We need to get a bad performance out the way but I’d prefer the lads to be fully fit.
“They [Ashton] are a good side and they play football the right way. They’re a nice young team and they like to play and hit you on the counter.
“We play in the same kind of way but they have lost one of their better players and he was the difference in the last game.
“We have just got to get more consistent. I thought we had turned the corner but Saturday’s performance suggested otherwise.
“Craig [Cairns] will be back on Saturday. We didn’t want to take the risk because he has a groin strain. We just have to take care of him.
“If he is back and all goes well on Wednesday, everyone is fit for Saturday.
“I’m looking forward to it as it’s been difficult to get a run of games as we’ve had so many games called off.
“It’s mad – I’ve never known a league like it!” ● Full reports from Town’s games against Maine Road and Nelson on page 58. RUNCORN LINNETS recorded a comfortable victory on Saturday and moved up to third place in the league table.
They defeated Ashton Athletic 3-0 to go within five points of the top of the table – though the other teams in the top five still have more games in hand left to play.
Manager Michael Ellison was pleased with his side’s performance and he praised the way they responded to their disappointing draw against New Mills earlier this year.
“It was a good win and a good performance as well,” said Ellison.
“The lads put a really good shift in. In the last three games I’ve been really pleased with them. We’ve looked pretty solid since the draw at New Mills and got a nice reaction.
“We dropped those two points last Monday to a bit of a freak goal but apart from that I think we’ve looked really good. We’ve got no game on Saturday which is a little frustrating but then we have lots of tough games coming up. We’ll play all the top teams right after each other.
“It was good to get another clean sheet, though, and I always say if we don’t concede then nine out of 10 times we win the game.”
Linnets may be without a match but there will be no rest for Ellison’s squad as the boss plans to put his players through a series of rigorous training sessions.
“We will be working hard. The lads put a tough fitness session in on Tuesday and there will be tough ones on Thursday and Saturday too,” he said.
“We will try to get a friendly game in on Tuesday. It would have been nice to have a game organised for Saturday but it’s difficult as most teams will be playing.
“There will still be three sessions and the lads will be working really hard.”
Linnets return to league action a week on Saturday when they face Ashton Athletic once again, this time on home turf. Ellison hopes some of his injured players will have time to recover during their week off but he was already boosted by the return of Antony Hickey this weekend.
“Hopefully we can get everyone back as we still have a few players out injured,” said Ellison.
“I only had four substitutes this Saturday so we’re still struggling with injuries.
“Obviously, the week off doesn’t help with suspensions though as players will have to wait another week to get back.
“It was nice to see Antony Hickey back on Saturday. He made a difference being around the squad with his experience so it was nice to have him back and hopefully we can get a few more for the Ashton game.” ● Report and more Linnets news on page 57. ●