Brig boss Jamie Milligan wants to see promotion spark again

Brig’s challenge in the NPL Premier Division has faltered in recent weeks after topping the table at the end of November when they defeated Basford United 1-0 at home.

Since then, Jamie Milligan’s men have picked up just two wins from eight games and have slipped to fourth – eight points behind leaders Matlock Town.

Last weekend, Brig were surprisingly beaten 2-0 by Stalybridge Celtic and Milligan admitted his men are perhaps a little bit low on confidence at the moment.

While they are enjoying plenty of possession, they are lacking the killer instinct in the opposing penalty area.

From being the division’s leading scorers early in the season, Brig have notched just seven goals in their past eight games, drawing blanks in half of them.

“Saturday’s defeat to Stalybridge was a tough one to take,” Milligan, pictured right, told BrigTV.

“We dominated the ball like we normally do but it’s just not happening for us in the final third at the moment.

“We are getting in there, getting it wide and in behind teams.

“We are putting numerous amount of crosses in the box but we are just lacking that final touch.

“It’s probably not dropping for us like it was doing early on in the season.

“We have just got to be more ruthless in that final third and get more shots off. I just think we are trying to wait for that perfect goal – we just need to let fly which might get a deflection or a spill from the goalkeeper.”

Milligan revealed that he is likely to ring the changes this weekend as he looks to rediscover that winning formula for the visit to Ashton.

“I wasn’t happy with a couple of the performances from some of the lads so there will be changes for Saturday, it’s as simple as that,” he said.

“It wasn’t the best performance and the lads knows that.

“So we are going to make changes for this weekend.

“We have worked on shape this week in training because we know how Ashton will play.

“We know their manager Michael Clegg will have Ashton well drilled because he’s a good manager.

“We need to be right at it because they are a decent team.”

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