Buckle urges Hatters to sort out their defence

Hatters have conceded seven goals in their last two away matches shipping four to Grimsby on Friday night and three in the recent reverse at Alfreton.

He said: “It’s about rolling your sleeves up, it’s always been about that.

“We have to do the basics right, we fell short of that Friday night, but there’s no point in me keep going on about it.

“What we have to do in any game is really depend on each other for 90 minutes, really put our foot through the ball, put our head in where it hurts because all the goals have come from nothing.

“We’re not even under sustained pressure at Grimsby, they never kept us pinned in or you’re thinking on the side, I’d better change this and do something.

“The goals are out of the blue because they’re down to individuals. Those players know that, I don’t need to whack them with a stick. What we’ve got to do is work hard on the training pitch and put it right.

“It hurts losing, it especially hurts conceding four goals, but it would hurt even more if I didn’t know why.

“We do know why and I’ve got to believe in the boys that we’ve got.

“At the moment our focus is on keeping a clean sheet. I didn’t see any problems with our midfield or our forward line, the problems have been at the back and the lads know it.

“We need to go and keep a clean sheet, and then pass the baton over to the strikers.”

Buckle is also hoping that Hatters can finally take the lead tonight, something they haven’t managed to do so in the last four games.

He continued: “I spoke to you guys before about getting the first goal and getting control. At the moment we can’t get ourselves into games, as we’re not giving ourselves a chance, the players know that though.

“We have to be watertight, remain resilient for 90 minutes. If we do that, we’ve got a great chance because we’ve got goals in the team.

“We kept the ball really well the other night and going forward is not a problem, we scored again, but we need to be able to try and win one or 2-0.”

Tamworth go into the game on the back of two straight wins with conceding a goal, but when asked about the threats the Lambs may possess, Buckle said: “I’m not fussed about the opposition. We’ve got to make sure we’re right and do the basics right all over the pitch and give ourselves a chance.

“They’ve put a lot of points on the board, they won Saturday and it’s going to be tough game.

“Whether we play someone who’s won or lost or drawn, it’s going to be a tough game. They raise themselves when it’s Luton, but we have to get our own house in order.

“It’s a game where they’ll come and attack us, try and look at our last result and say let’s get at them early.

“I’m not interested in them though as I’ve seen enough of my teams this season to make me keep my chin up, because we’ve done lots of things right.”

Town dropped to sixth in the table after their defeat at Grimsby and with the Saturday off, Buckle admitted he couldn’t help but keep a watchful eye on the results as they came in.

He added: “You like to look at yourselves, but you can’t help on Saturday looking at the results and there’s some strange results.

“Who would have said that Wrexham would draw at home (to Dartford)?

“There’s a lot of expectation for the teams at the top. I came in at the end of last season, the players did great to get into the play-off final and I’ve tried to make a lot of changes.

“I’m still trying to build a team and never thought it would be over and done with in 10 games. Players are still proving whether they are good enough to be at the club.”

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