EXPERIENCED heads are what Shawbury United need to get over their FA Vase hangover and start firing in front of goal again, believes boss Declan Allen.
Saturday’s 1-0 West Midlands Premier home defeat at Ludlow Stadium to lowly Bilston Town was the third straight game in which Shawbury had drawn a blank.
Allen admits their confidence might have been hit by last week’s heavy Vase replay defeat at Uttoxeter Town and hopes some planned reinforcements will provide a boost.
“It’s a young group and you can see we’ve lacked that little bit of experience in the last couple of games, and that’s something we are looking to address,” he said.
“We will be looking to bring in one or two players, which will not only give everybody a lift but also provide more competition for places.
“We are struggling to score goals. The stats don’t lie – we are the joint lowest scorers in the league.
“But the positive thing is that we haven’t been conceding too many. So as soon as we start getting it right in the final third, I’m confident we will come good.
“We have had four games in ten days and that’s possibly caught up with us, then on Saturday we had two injuries in the first half-hour which didn’t help.
“Prior to the Vase games we’d had a midweek game in the league as well and we did look tired, a bit jaded on Saturday.”
Shawbury created some good chances against Bilston as Jack Sweeney saw a header well saved and also hit the woodwork, while Jake Young had an effort cleared off the line.
But a goal midway through the second period won it for the visitors and Allen labelled the display as Shawbury’s worst of the season.
He added: “It was disappointing because we had highlighted it as being a game where, although they had changed their manager recently, we would be looking for three points.
“Had we won, it would moved us up closer to the pack in the top half. Instead, we have been sucked in by some of those below us.”
This Saturday, Shawbury visit Black Country Rangers, who sit two places above Allen’s men.
“It’s probably the ideal fixture, playing another mid-table team, for us to get back on track and put the demons of the Bilston fixture behind us,” the manager said.
“The lads have to prove a point, that the performance against Bilston was a one-off."
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