Dropped points against South Shields irritate boss Andy Preece
Chorley might well be fourth in the National League North, but boss Andy Preece is hungry for much more.
Despite watching his men earn a very respectable point at South Shields on Saturday, Preece had feelings of anger and disappointment at the final whistle.
The Magpies looked on course for all three points after building a 2-0 half-time lead courtesy of goals from Kole Hall and Momodou Touray
However, Shields hit-back after the break to draw level – taking advantage of the visitors’ wastefulness in front of goal. Mark Ellis restored the Magpies’ lead with 22 minutes to go with a trademark header only for the hosts to equalise deep into stoppage time following a set-piece.
The win could have put Chorley in second spot in the table, just two points behind leaders Scunthorpe United.
Preece told ChorleyFCTV: "We should be delighted with being fourth, but we are not going to be because we want to keep pushing on and aiming to be right at the top of the league.
"We put ourselves in a position where we have just got to defend a free-kick.
"We have dealt with the first phase but haven’t dealt with the second phase and we are usually really good at doing that. So I am really disappointed with that.
"When I look back at our performance, everything that we did in the first half went how we planned it and how we thought it might go.
"We had that 10 minutes after half-time but as we do, we come back with great character.
"But we were so wasteful, we had so many opportunities to score more goals.
“There were a lot of good things, and a lot to be proud of but if you want to be right at the top, we can’t let opportunities go like we did on Saturday.”
The Magpies turn their attentions back to the FA Cup this weekend when they head to Spennymoor Town in the third round of qualifying.