Chorley looking to turn draws into wins in National League

Chorley assistant boss Jonathan Smith revealed last weekend’s FA Cup victory over Spennymoor Town was vital for the club’s season as a whole.
Matt Challoner and Mark Ross celebrate  after the  cup win over Spennymoor (photo: Stefan Willoughby)Matt Challoner and Mark Ross celebrate  after the  cup win over Spennymoor (photo: Stefan Willoughby)
Matt Challoner and Mark Ross celebrate after the cup win over Spennymoor (photo: Stefan Willoughby)

The Magpies progressed to the first round of the competition for the third successive season.

And like the previous two campaigns, they pulled out Football League opposition in Monday night’s draw in the shape of League Two outfit Mansfield Town, who they will play away.

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While pleased that the win over The Moors puts them in the hat for the next round, Smith admitted the victory had wider implications.

Having only won once in the National League so far since winning promotion, the Magpies need to rediscover that winning feeling.

Smith is hopeful that last weekend’s 2-0 victory will be the springboard for more successes, starting with tomorrow’s visit of Yeovil Town to Victory Park.

“It was nice to get a win,” Smith said. “Obviously the FA Cup is important to us with the revenue it brings

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“But it was nice to win because we have not had too many this season and hopefully it will give us the confidence to get a few more wins on the board.”

Despite their lack of victories, the Magpies – who are currently second from bottom in the table – are not marooned in the relegation zone and that is down to fact that they have registered 10 draws from their opening 17 league games.

Indeed their previous four fixtures have all ended in goalless draws and Smith said the team needed to start being harder to beat after suffering some heavy defeats early on.

“We have not scored as many goals as we would have liked, but we have had to be more defensive minded,” he said.

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“You can’t come into this league and be open and attacking because you will get picked off. We found that out.

“So we changed things slightly. It’s unlike last season when we were free-flowing and scoring goals every week.

“You can’t do that in this league – we were getting beaten by four, five and six.”

Yeovil are a big club at this level and were only relegated from the Football League last season.

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However, they are making a concerted effort to return straight away and are currently third in the table, just a point off leaders FC Halifax Town.

“They are going well at the moment,” Smith added. “But they are not blowing teams away like they were doing a month ago.

“It’s going to be tough – we know that.”

On the injury front, Scott Leather and Louis Almond are getting close to full fitness while skipper Andrew Teague may be fit enough to return to the squad tomorrow.