Yeovil Town boss Chris Hargreaves has called on the players who have remained at the club to “step up” and show leadership as they seek their first National League win of the season.
The Glovers’ boss admitted seeing his side forced to settle for a 2-2 draw courtesy of an injury time equaliser at Altrincham last weekend was the most disappointed he has felt in the job.
They head in to the August Bank Holiday weekend with Dagenham & Redbridge the visitors to Huish Park on Saturday followed by a trip to a Wealdstone side who have made an impressive start to the new campaign.
Speaking ahead of the game, Hargreaves said he had been having “positive but honest” conversations with members of his squad this week: “A result on a Sunday morning does not have a list of excuses under it, it’s just a result. You have to get over it quickly.
“We have a game on Saturday, review it on Sunday and we move on and have another on Monday.
“But we need the players who have become the core of this team and remained at this club to step up because they are the ones with the experience.”
In the summer, goalkeeper Grant Smith, defenders Josh Staunton and Max Hunt, midfielders Matt Worthington and Lawson D’Ath and forward Charlie Wakefield all committed themselves to new deals at Huish Park
The manager admitted his side had lost some of the defensive resilience which was a hallmark of their pre-season campaign as they seek to overcome the lock of creative threat which dogged them.
He said: “When you look at pre-season we were not creating enough and we were really resilient. We need to get that clean sheet mentality back again and kill teams when you get chances.
“We didn’t create as much as I wanted to on Saturday whereas on the previous Tuesday (in the 2-1 home defeat to Barnet) we had 15 situations where we could have scored or done better, so all we can do is put the point to the players in training.
“There’s only so much the boys can do in training, they have to deliver when they cross over the white line on Saturday.“