Exclusive Matt Jansen column

Chorley boss writes for the Lancashire PostIt's been a week of contrasting fortunes at the Chorley Group Victory Park Stadium, after we finally returned to competitive action following our long break.
Dale Whitham wins the ball in the middle of the park for the Magpies against Boston (photo: Josh Vosper)Dale Whitham wins the ball in the middle of the park for the Magpies against Boston (photo: Josh Vosper)
Dale Whitham wins the ball in the middle of the park for the Magpies against Boston (photo: Josh Vosper)

We hosted Spennymoor Town on Tuesday evening in our first match in more than three weeks, and I was 
delighted with the victory.

We scored three very good goals against a strong Spennymoor side, who are in and around the play-off positions much like us.

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The first-half performance was probably the best we’ve produced this season, and that says a lot after the good performances against Salford and Darlington, for example.

Marcus Carver scored a quickfire double, and I was delighted for him.

You can’t fault him for his attitude and determination.

He and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship sometimes and I wanted to see a good performance on Tuesday, and he proved 
me right, which is all I can ask for.

Spennymoor found a goal to halve the deficit, but our reaction and character to conceding a goal was fantastic.

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We didn’t sit back and defend the lead, we stayed on the front foot and Josh O’Keefe scored a good team goal 10 minutes from time to secure the victory against a really strong Spennymoor side who will undoubtedly be up the top of the end of the table come the end of the season.

We then faced Boston United at home on Saturday, a side who we’ve had a good record against in recent seasons.

That wasn’t the case this weekend though and I was disappointed with how we started that match.

The first 15 minutes or so we lacked the same tempo and aggression from Tuesday night and Boston scored a goal after 10 minutes.

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The response in conceding was good though, and I felt for 70 or 75 minutes we were the better side and really should have got back into the game.

We’re not going to get downhearted or frustrated.

You learn a great deal from defeats and there are still a maximum of 27 points remaining for us to win, with many of the sides around us such as Blyth, York and Stockport yet to face us again. I’m not downbeat and neither are any of the lads in the dressing room.

Coming up we’ve got a busy run of matches, starting with the rearranged Lancashire Cup semi-final against Lancaster on Wednesday.

We’ll go into that game full of energy looking to get the win and hopefully onto the final at the Macron which would be a good achievement for the side.

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We then face York on Saturday, which is a crucial match, and then Bradford Park Avenue at home on Easter Monday. We’re looking forward to the fixtures and know exactly what we need to do, which is to get as many points on the board as we can, in an effort to reach the play-offs.

Matt Jansen was talking to Harry Lyons