“We need to make better decisions”: Lancaster City manager’s message to his players
Lancaster City boss outlines the areas where they can improve in the search for three points.
Jimmy Marshall believes Lancaster City’s decision making must improve as they hit the road again on Saturday.
A third away trip in four NPL Premier matches sees the Dolly Blues travel to Gainsborough Trinity.
Marshall’s players seek a return to winning ways with last weekend’s home loss to Cleethorpes Town leaving them with one point from the last 12.
That came after confirmation of two departures from the Giant Axe squad as James Bailey returned to Kendal Town for an undisclosed fee and Dylan Thompson joined FC St Helens.
“It’s been a real rollercoaster this season,” the Lancaster boss said after last Saturday’s match.
“When we went to these (Cleethorpes) in the FA Trophy, that was as bad as we’ve been under me.
“Then we responded with two wins and we get a run of games where you think to yourself we’ve got an opportunity to put some points on the board.
“We lose two games by the odd goal, then we get a draw last week (at FC United of Manchester) where we get a clean sheet and then today, performance-wise, I thought we were OK but it’s disappointing to lose again.
“Gainsborough will be a tough one for us but they’re all tough in this league, so it’s just about doing your homework on each individual team.
“We need to make sure our performance levels and the decisions that we’re making are right.
“In the critical moments, we’re not making the right decisions and that’s costing us.”
Lancaster visit a Gainsborough side in eighth position, having followed up five consecutive victories with two defeats in their last three.
“We’ll do the same as we do every week,” Marshall said.
“Some lads have started the game with knocks, we’ll assess that, then we’ll get back on the training pitch and hopefully go and give a positive account of ourselves at Gainsborough.
“We approach every game the same whether it’s home or away; whoever it’s against, we’ll try and win every game we’re playing.
“From top to bottom, I think you can beat anybody on your day but, if you don’t do things right or your performance levels aren’t there, you can also lose games against anybody.
“For us, it’s about trying to get some consistency and we just need a bit more quality in terms of when we get in that final third, we need to make better decisions.
“It’s alright saying we’re not scoring enough goals - which we’re not at the moment - but we’ve got to create stuff and we’ve got to give the strikers something to go at.
“We need to do a little bit more but I’m sure we’ll get there. At the moment it’s tough but we’ll work hard this week and react in the right manner.”