1874 Northwich manager Rory Fallon says his side will take plenty of confidence into Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Horbury Town, but insists there will be no room for complacency.
Fallon has been pleased with the defensive structure of his side during the opening games of the season, despite two narrow defeats.
“I’m pleased with how we’ve approached all the games so far. Even in the two defeats, they’ve been narrow defeats where we could have definitely taken something from the game.
“I think the defensive structure of the team is looking good. We’re conceding very few goals in every single game at the moment, and that’s the pleasing thing.
“On the flip side of that, I think in both the Newcastle Town and Prescot Cables games, we’ve had a couple of opportunities where we could have definitely at least snatched a draw from both of those games.”
The manager admits that finding more goals will be the next challenge for his squad as they continue to adapt to life in a higher league.
“We know we need to look at how we can score more goals. That’s always the challenge when you go into a better league, having goalscorers throughout the team.
“Particularly in the Newcastle Town game, we were guilty of missing a couple of big chances. Against Prescot Cables on Tuesday night, I don’t think either side had a lot of chances and the game was decided by a set piece.
“But we need to turn those narrow defeats into results and swing things our way.”
Saturday’s opponents, Horbury Town, currently sit higher up the table in the same division as Rossington Main, who Northwich defeated in their previous cup tie.
Fallon is expecting another difficult test and says his players will approach the game with the same mentality as a league fixture.
“It definitely gives us confidence going into the game tomorrow, but we have to acknowledge that it’s going to be a challenge again.
“Horbury are in the same league as Rossington Main, but they’re much higher up the table and they’re winning games, so there’s certainly going to be no complacency from our side.
“We’ll be treating it like we would a league game and looking to progress into the next round.”
The Northwich boss has also done his homework on Horbury and knows his side will have to be alert to the threats they possess in attack.
“We’ve done our homework and research on them and they’ve definitely got goals at the top end of the pitch. They’ve got threats, so we need to make sure that we’re all switched on and ready to go.
“We need to be defensively resolute like we have been so far. We’ve only conceded two goals in four games, but we just need to make sure we’re firing at the other end of the pitch.”
Finally, Fallon called on the Northwich supporters to get behind the team as they look to book their place in the next round.
“It’s so important that everybody’s behind us tomorrow, and we’re looking to make sure they’re in the hat for Monday.”