Ellison hails his players’ reaction after rare defeat
● TABLE-TOPPING Runcorn Linnets have bounced back well from their home loss to Widnes FC last month.
Following a 2-1 victory over 1874 Northwich last Tuesday evening, Michael Ellison’s outfit backed that up with a 4-1 triumph at Barnoldswick Town last Saturday afternoon.
A Freddie Potter hat-trick was complimented by an Antony Hickey strike in the weekend win.
“It was important to get back to winning ways as soon as possible,” Ellison said.
“We’ve done that in the last two games and it feels good. From the management point of view, we know there are games we won’t win. You’d love to win every game but experience says you’re not going to do that. It’s about how you react to that – the loss against Widnes might have given the lads a kick up the backside but they’ve reacted really well to that.”
Potter netted his first goal with almost 70 minutes on the clock and ended up walking off with the match ball. Ellison, understandably, was delighted with his goalscorers, but praised the team performance.
“Freddie scored a hat-trick in about 25 minutes and it’s one of the best I’ve seen!” he enthused.
“Antony Hickey didn’t play against 1874 but he understands it’s a squad game and he scored one and set one up against Barnoldswick so the two really impressed me, but so did the whole performance. Considering we were behind against an in-form team [Barnoldswick had won their last three games], it was a really good win. “I’m really pleased to be honest.” With another match against Widnes FC on the horizon – the two face-off on Monday evening at the Select Security Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm) – Ellison admitted he could make changes for this Saturday’s scheduled home clash with Squires Gate (kick-off 3pm). Ellison observed: “I changed it again Saturday. “The lads who were left out did really well so we’ll see what happens. With it being on a Monday, we could possibly use the squad.”