Magpies desperately need victories in national League survival fight

The Magpies are rock bottom of the National League – eight points shy of safety following Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Aldershot Town.

Boss Jamie Vermiglio believes eight wins from their final 15 games could be enough to save them, but it looks a tall order especially considering they have only won four from their first 31 league fixtures this season.

And at this stage of the campaign, the Magpies manager knows draws will not be enough for his team – they need to start winning, starting with tomorrow’s visit of FC Halifax Town to Victory Park .

“There were no points lost after Saturday’s draw because Dagenham and Redbridge, who are fifth bottom, also drew,” said Vermiglio.

“But we are in a position where we need wins.

“Saturday was good in terms of we stopped the rot in terms of the run of defeats and we put another point on the board, but our aim is to get three points – that’s always our aim, but it’s even more so now.

“We need to start games with the intensity that we are 1-0 down, but we certainly don’t need to be slap-dash with it.

“It has to be done in a controlled way because what we have found in this league compared to last year is that when you do give the ball away , it’s more likely that you do get punished.

“The division below you are given more chances where as the National League, we have been punished for giving the ball away.

“ We do need to keep cleans sheets because if you do that then you have got half a chance because we’ve always got a goal in us.

“We probably have not scored as many goals as we would have liked, but we have created a lot of chances.

“There’s a statistic out there which says that in 60% of the games this season, we have had more shots than the opposition.

“So that kind of shows that there hasn’t necessarily been anything wrong with the system that we have been playing because the chances are being created. I think it’s come down to a little bit of luck and us not being ruthless enough in front of goal, but obviously going forward, we need to start taking them.”