Midfielder Corey Sutherland has left the club to go back home to Australia to pursue his football career.  Corey came in at a time when we had injuries and made a couple of substitute appearances.

We wish Corey well

Nick Spooner spoke after the 1-1 home draw at home to Whitby Town

”A very frustrating afternoon. The bookies must love us yet another draw! I thought the first half was a disgrace. We just weren’t at the races, and I must apologise to the fans for that.

I’ve never known us to have that many players off the pace. We just didn’t create anything, We did have two chances and should have taken them, but they could have had three or four goals. So, yes, it was a shocking first half and yes, we got in behind them and missed two one-on-ones with the keeper. Those chances probably would have settled the game because they’re fighting for their lives at the bottom of the league. If we’d scored, their heads would have gone down, and they would have had to come out more, which I think would have played into our hands. But fair play to them—they gave us a scare in the first half.

On getting a response in the second half

The second half was much better. We controlled the game and limited their chances, I can’t even remember our keeper making a save in the second half. Their keeper, on the other hand, made a couple of good saves.

We got crosses into the box, and we had headers at the far post. With a bit more quality, we should have won the game.

On keeping an unchanged starting line up

We had won our last two games, one-nil at Hebburn and one-nil at home, I thought those were good performances.

It’s always difficult when you’re not starting with Redshaw because you want to get him in, but I wanted to be loyal to the players.

Unfortunately, after that first 45 minutes, loyalty goes out of the window so if you’re not working hard and not playing well, you won’t stay on the pitch. Redshaw was desperate to come on, and he did his bit when he got the chance.

After the goal we huffed and puffed. To be fair to them, they went for the win as well because they knew how important three points were.

That left gaps in midfield, which I think we started to exploit. We looked more dangerous on the counterattack but we lacked that final bit of quality. We could have picked out the final pass, but we rushed it and that’s been the story of our season.

We’ve played good football but haven’t been clinical in the final third, and that’s cost us.

Overall, I’m disappointed with the first half but pleased with the reaction in the second half. However, we needed three points at home.

I’m not writing off the league, today could have put us right in the mix. If you look at the fixtures, we’ve got to go to Stockton, and they’ve got a lot of tough games ahead.

We’ve been in that position before where teams are chasing you, and it can get nervy.

We can play with a bit of freedom now, but today was a missed opportunity to put some pressure on. That said, we’re unbeaten in three or four games now, so we’ll keep going and hopefully pick up some results in the cup as well.

On some decisions by the officials

I don’t want to comment on the referee. He’ll have a long meeting with the assessor today, and hopefully, they’ll have a good discussion about what went on.

When both managers are shaking hands and laughing at the decisions, I think that tells you everything you need to know.

On the chance to reach a final on Tuesday

Yes it’s a brilliant opportunity, That’s why I’m so disappointed today, I wanted us to be fighting on three fronts.

This was our game in hand, and we’ve wasted it!  We’re already in the Manchester Cup final, and now we’ll be going all out for the Cheshire Cup as well. There’s still so much to look forward to.

Brad Cooke has gone in at Runcorn and done a good job, so I’m expecting a tough game over there.

We caught up with goalkeeper Callum Hiddleston after back to back clean sheets

”Yeah, absolutely buzzing with that one. It feels like it’s been a long time coming. It’s been frustrating because it’s not like we’ve been playing badly, we just haven’t been clinical enough, and we’ve struggled to keep clean sheets. So, I’m really happy to get back-to-back clean sheets now, and hopefully, we can get a few more.  As a goalkeeper, you just want clean sheets every game. When we’re playing well but not keeping clean sheets, you start wondering what’s going wrong. So, I’m just delighted we managed to get another one today.”

On having a settled back four 

”Now that everyone’s back from injury, it’s helping a lot. It’s been tough with lads coming in and out of the team, but now we’ve got a bit of a smooth run, and we’re feeling more comfortable at the back.”

On the belief of the team

”We’re not going to get too carried away, but when you’re winning consistently, you start thinking about what could happen. We just need to keep plugging away and getting points on the board.”

On Today’s Result 

”It was a good result You could see the nerves towards the end. I thought the first half was excellent we had three or four good chances, their keeper pulled off two great saves, we hit the post and it bounced back out. So, overall, the first half was really pleasing.

They probably came into it a bit towards the end of the half, and I was thinking, should we have killed the game off? But in the end, I’m happy with the three points.”

After a hard game Tuesday you could see the exhaustion, especially in midfield. There aren’t many midfields in the league with more energy than ours, and they dominated on Tuesday night.

You could really see the fatigue today—we lacked a bit of energy in the second half. We’ve also got a few players carrying knocks that nobody knows about, some who can barely kick the ball at the moment, but they’re still giving it their all. So, to get a result on Tuesday night, and then come here today and get another win is really pleasing.

”When they went down to 10 men, they had nothing to lose and just threw everything at us. We, on the other hand, became anxious, thinking we should comfortably win against 10 men. We lost our shape a bit. But credit to them they applied pressure, even though they didn’t actually create too many chances.”

On the character of the team

” It’s been a long time since we had back-to-back wins. We’ve talked all season about conceding late goals, and you could see the anxiety at the end. That’s what disappointed me, we’re not a long-ball team, but we looked nervous, and understandably so.

Last Saturday hurt us again, but I’m really pleased with back-to-back clean sheets and back-to-back wins.”

Looking ahead to next Saturday

”Yeah, it’s that game in hand we keep talking about. We’ve been joking this season that we’ve been in the play-offs for the last two years, so now, let’s just go and spoil the party. Let’s enjoy it and see how high we can finish.

We’re nine points behind Stockton, but we’ve still got to play them and we’ve got that game in hand. The lads are playing with freedom, they’re excited, and hopefully, we can have a strong end to the season.”

Defender Jack Stafford has come in on a month’s loan from Southport

Jack was a trainee/scholar at Exeter City between 2018 and 2020. He had previously been part of the academy at Burnley. Whilst at St James’ Park, he was a member of the team which had a good run in the 2019/20 FA Youth Cup eventually losing to Ipswich Town.

After leaving Exeter, Jack joined League of Ireland Waterford in February 2021 and played 28 games for the club during the 2021/22 season. He signed an 18-month contract to be a member of Swansea City’s under-23 squad in February 2022.

Jack suffered a serious injury in 2022/23 and, having eventually regained full fitness, left South Wales to move to Stafford Rangers in February 2024 before signing for the ‘Port’ last summer where he has made 15 appearances this term

Happy 3 year anniversary to the current management team of Nick Spooner, Martin Coyne and Gavin McCann, appointed on this day in 2022.

They’ve overseen 153 games, 70 wins, 38 draws and 45 defeats. Their teams have scored 248 goals and conceded 184. A win percentage of 45.8%.

They managed to steer us clear from relegation in 2022 and recorded back to back 6th place finishes in the last two seasons, our highest finishes for a number of years.

They lifted the Cheshire Senior Cup in 2024 and have reached two Manchester Premier Cup finals and another Cheshire Senior Cup semi final.

Congratulations on an impressive first three years and here’s to many more!

 

On the defeat

A very disappointing defeat. We didn’t really get going. The instructions were to put balls in the box and I felt we tried to be too nice in the final third. We’re not a team that scores lots of goals from crosses anyway, but we didn’t test their young keeper – he was making his debut at this level – and that’s disappointing.

The instructions weren’t followed, they do what they’re good at, but we didn’t do what we’re good at. We didn’t try and play, and we got into a battle – we’re not going to win many battles.

The midfield broke a few times and forced a play, or we were in good positions and just wouldn’t pull the trigger, which is disappointing. Their keeper had to make one save in the first half but we didn’t deserve a goal because we didn’t create the chances.

On the goal we conceaded
It’s a sloppy, horrible goal! We were on the break, lost the ball in their third, they countered, put a ball to the far post, which I thought we should have dealt with and we had two opportunities to clear it, but the lad’s hooked it back in and got a toe on it, and it’s just rolled over the line. So, yeah, really disappointing, especially with the timing, because we’d just had a decent spell before that, without really creating anything.

On a lack of creation
We huffed and puffed, but they sat in. They were working hard while we were trying to get wide, but the quality just wasn’t there. No quality in crosses, no quality from set plays, no quality in open play, no quality in the final third.

We can’t use the pitch as an excuse as you’ve got to put the ball in good areas. They played the pitch better than us.

On the frustration that we didn’t back up Tuesday’s result
I told the boys I was disappointed. On Tuesday, the first half was a poor performance. In the second half, we scored at the right times, but does that mask the cracks? Was it really a good performance? Then we come out today, and I’m just not impressed. I thought we lacked energy.

We ended up in a 4-2-4 formation. I felt sorry for the two lads in midfield – up and down, up and down. It’s a big pitch, and if you make it big defensively, you leave gaps, which is what disappointed me.

On looking forward

If you look at our results this season, too many draws. even this game looked like it had a draw written all over it.

We need to find a goal scorer. Redders has been really good, (15 goals), but he needs help. Joel’s been great, but we’re not getting goals from other areas. We need to share the goals around and to improve this team for next season, I need a 15-20 goal-a-season striker, that’s what I’ll be looking for.

The club can confirm defender has left the club to join NPL Division One West side Widnes.  Jack came in at a time when the club had injuries and suspensions and made 11 appearances across all competitions but can’t be guaranteed regular football.

That’s along with Harry Bunn who has left the club to join NPL Division One West side Avro, Bunn made 65 appearances, across all competitions, since joining last summer, scoring 10 goals.

With his workload at Manchester City academy increasing, it was difficult for him to commit to the club so asked to leave.

We wish both Jack and Harry well

Following Runcorn Linnets 6-1 win over 1874 Northwich we will now face an away trip to Linnets in the Cheshire Senior Cup semi-final with a date to be confirmed.