Athletic need to cut out the costly errors to maintain their form

Their two matches since the turn of the year have seen them lose 3-2 to Buckingham Town and draw 4-4 in a topsy-turvy clash with Thrapston Town.

That came after a successful Christmas during which time they beat both Stewarts & Lloyds and high-flying Bugbrooke St Michaels.

The frustration is there for English and he wants his side to step things up again.

“We’re just a little bit off it at the moment,” the Athletic boss explained.

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“We need to focus and concentrate for the full 90 minutes because in this league if you switch of for even a second it will cost you.

“There are too many silly individual errors at the moment and that is hurting us.

“I was really pleased with the performance against Buckingham because they are going really well and have just signed three more very good players.

“We were 2-1 up against them but then a costly individual error gave them a penalty just before half-time.

“At Thrapston it wasn’t the best game and it was played on a pretty awful pitch.

“We were sluggish to start off with and more errors meant we went in 2-1 down. We had a good chat and came out firing and within 10 minutes we were 4-2 up.

“Then a shocking decision for a penalty got them back in the game and we ended up drawing.

“It was quite disappointing really.

“We are in reasonably good form, though. We just need to cut out the mistakes.

“We’ve got everything in our armoury to go and win games but you can’t be complacent.”

This weekend sees Oakham United come to Hall Park.

The sides drew 2-2 back in November and English knows what to expect from their opponents.

“They went above us with their win last weekend but they are struggling for consistency a bit,” he said.

“I’m not expecting anything other than another tough game and we know we have to be as good as we can be to beat anyone in this league.

“If we can beat one of the best in Bugbrooke, on paper we should be doing against the other sides as well.

“We just need to cut out the errors and we can start enjoying the back end of the season and start moving up the table.”