Dolly Blues are still upbeat

Louis Mayers (right) battles for the ball against Bamber Bridge (Picture: Paul Vause)

The Dolly Blues saw an improved run of form, including a 3-0 win over Glossop North End at Giant Axe on Saturday, come to an end with the 1-0 reverse at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium.

Brown now takes his side to Brighouse Town in the FA Cup first qualifying round on Saturday confident they can bounce back.

He said: “It was certainly a weekend of highs and lows.

“Saturday was a pretty comprehensive, pleasing performance against one of the more fancied teams.

“Then to go to Bamber Bridge and put in a poor performance right across the board is something I didn’t expect on the back of Saturday.

“It’s a game I’m struggling to take any positives from to be honest.

“We’ve just got to dust ourselves down and go again for a big game on Saturday.

“I’m sure it was just a blip.”

City had certainly been on an upward curve.

A 3-1 defeat at home to Droylsden on the opening day was followed by a draw at Burscough and wins over West Auckland, 5-1 in the previous round of the FA Cup, and Glossop on  Saturday.

Brown said: “If you’d asked me at 5pm on Saturday I’d have said we were going the right way and moving forwards but Monday has just taken the gloss off it.

“We’re still growing into the season but we’ve got to stop these inconsistencies that are popping up.

“I’m not too despondent though.

“We’ll sit down at training and have a bit of a chat and go from there.”

Brighouse have started the season well, sitting second in the early NPL First Division North table.

Brown said: “I went to watch them against Glossop in the preliminary round  replay.

“They look very together. They’re quite strong, have good quality in the team and results would suggest they’re strong at home.

“They had a good away win though too on Monday and are in good form.

“We’re going to have to come together ourselves after Monday.

“I’ve no doubt we can do that though – we’re a tight-knit group and can get back to what we did on Saturday and in the last round. I quite fancy us actually.”

Louis Mayers is carrying a hip injury but otherwise Brown has no injury concerns ahead of the trip to West Yorkshire.