BAKER: WE HAVE TO BE ON OUR GAME TO SECURE AWAY POINTS

NEIL Baker admits he was left with mixed emotions after seeing his Leek Town side exit the FA Trophy last weekend.

Blues were beaten 2-1 at Basford United, who play a division higher in the Northern Premier League, in the third qualifying round tie.

Aaron O’connor put the Premier hosts in front after 10 minutes, but Lewis Brownhill levelled for Leek shortly after the interval.

However, it was Basford who progressed when Matt Thornhill flicked the ball home 20 minutes from time.

Baker was proud of his West Division side’s performance, but conceded a slow start had proved to be costly.

“We didn’t settle early on at Basford and I felt that we gave them too much respect,” said the Leek manager.

“We didn’t quite get it right tactically. We thought they would set-up differently, so we had to change that pretty quickly.

“That helped them to dominate the first part of the game and they scored the goal, but after that I thought we settled down and we played well for the rest of the game.

“If we had started better we could have even gone through to the next round.”

Basford are impressing in the Premier Division, meaning Leek’s performance was a good indicator as to where they are currently at.

But Baker says pushing higherranked teams can’t be enough moving forward.

“This has happened over the last few seasons where we’ve played higher teams and we’ve matched them, but not been able to beat them,” he explained.

“That is the next challenge. It is good to put in a performance against those type of sides, but can we actually win the game?

“We have got better as a side, but we know there are areas we need to improve.

“The most important ones in football are the top end and defensive side, so that’s what we need to focus on.”

Leek return to NPL West Division action this weekend with a trip to City of Liverpool.

Blues are handily-placed in fifth having marked their long-awaited return toi Harrison Park with a fourpoint haul.

Leek hadn’t played at home for more than a year while a new 3G surface was installed at headquarters. But they marked their homecoming with a 3-0 home victory over Kendal, before being held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Prescot Cables last Tuesday.

“It’s been terrific to be back at home and play in front of two highlyrespectable crowds,” added manager Baker.

“It was a good performance against Kendal and not a bad one against Prescot.

“We failed to press home our advantage in the first half against Prescot with the chances that we created.

“They are down near the bottom, but did play like a team which was and they had a super spirit about them.

“Credit to them, they kept going and managed to score a last-minute equaliser.”

City of Liverpool find themselves in 15th place in the division, while Leek are just four points off the top.

Baker admits the league is starting to settle down as his side look to maintain their impressive away record this weekend.

“We’ve not played City of Liverpool since I’ve been back at the club, but we’ll look at the report on them,” said Baker.

“But you know in this league that if you’re not at it on your travels then it will be tough.

“We have a good away record and if you want to be at the top end it’s important to have that.

“The division is starting to take shape and I’ve said before that anyone who finishes above Marine will win the league. I might be proved wrong, but that’s what it is looking like at the minute.”

Leek will be without injured duo Scott Wara and Jack Wakefield for this weekend’s trip.

KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC have a long trip on the agenda this weekend as they make the journey to Kendal Town.

NEWCASTLE TOWN are at home to Prescot Cables, who are struggling, but recently picked up a decent point at Leek.