Gaffer upbeat heading into 2014 despite two defeats in three days
Graham Turner refused to throw in the towel after defeat at the hands of Preston, insisting he was pleased with his side’s performance and he’s confident an upturn in form is just around the corner.
Ryan Woods’ own goal 11 minutes from time gave the Lilywhites the 1-0 victory at Greenhous Meadow that subjected Town to a fourth consecutive home defeat.
“Sometimes when results are going wrong you don’t have that luck,” said Turner.
“There were times when we played some decent football and got the ball into good areas, but at the moment we obviously can’t score. Sometimes you need a little ricochet or the ball to drop for you, or even a penalty maybe, but it’s not happened for us.
It is a little bit disheartening for the players in the manner for which we conceded the goal.
You can’t blame young Ryan Woods, sometimes these things happen. He’s obviously got to deal with a difficult ball going across the face of our goal and you’d hope he’d deal with it a little better than he did.”
Despite the alarming run of form, Turner insists that his side will stick together and come out of this run all the better heading into the second half of the campaign.
“We’ve got to pick Woodsy up and stay together. Stick together as a squad and move on to the next one.
“From what I’ve seen today we’ve put in a real good shift, worked hard, looked organised – it’s just that action in the penalty area where we’re not producing enough.
“I wasn’t unhappy in any way about the manner in which we went about our work today. It is really a kick in the teeth to have lost again but all you can do is keep the players’ spirits up and work hard to make it turn.”
Now just a solitary point above the relegation zone, Town are back on the road on New Years Day as the visit Oldham. Unbeaten on their previous two trips away from home at Stevenage and Crewe, Turner is confident of adding to that positive away form.
“It’s about preparing right now. The players have worked very hard today. I didn’t make too many changes following the Tranmere defeat and I’d like to think that was justified given the manner of the performance despite the defeat. Now I think it’s a matter of picking the players up now and getting them ready for Wednesday
“Our position in the league is obviously a massive concern now. At a stage like this we’re obviously aware of what other teams are doing, but it’s down to us to put it right and I do feel that we’ve got enough decent players at the club, enough organisation and attitude so I’m confident that we can turn it all around.”