DROITWICH SPA joint-boss Wayne Oliver feels his squad need to prevent silly mistakes and learn to take their goalscoring opportunities ahead of Saturday’s game at Sutton United.
At the weekend, Spa made the trip to lowly Knowle for a Midland League Division Two clash but after racing into a 2-0 lead thanks to a double from leading scorer James Lemon, the Saltmen failed to claim the three points.
Following the sending off of Bradley Burgess, Spa’s afternoon was made difficult as Knowle managed to salvage a 2-2 draw deep into injury time when keeper Matthew Oliver sliced a clearance into the path of Tom Craine who obliged with a calm finish.
The draw saw Spa move up to second in the table but joint-boss Oliver told the Standard silly errors cost his side from walking away with a valuable three points.
“Looking at the position we are in, it can be argued that it was two points but nothing has changed for us,” he said.
“In the attacking third and defensive third we did not take our chances and made silly errors which were punished by Knowle.
“It’s not something that is relevant to Saturday’s game however, it’s the same old story all season and we have to stamp it out.
“There has been so many games where we could have won by bigger margins while there have been games where we have given silly goals away so we need to put that right for the remainder of the season.”
Spa make the trip Hollyfield Road on Saturday to take on a Sutton United side that have only won once in their last eight league outings.
The previous meeting between the two sides came back in February for a Les James Challenge Cup quarter-final tie, a game where the Saltmen need extra-time to run out 3-0 winners.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Oliver has a full-strength squad to choose from and insists this weekend is crucial with league games against in-form Paget Rangers and promotion chasing Chelmsley Town on the horizon.
“The last time we played them we needed 120 minutes to claim a win so this time around I’m hoping we can actually do it within the 90 minutes,” he said.
“Sutton are a decent side and difficult to break down so I expect another tough game but it’s a crucial game for us as three points will set us up nicely for the games against Paget and Chelmsley.
“I’ve got a full strength squad to choose from so I’m hoping the players go out there and get the job done.”
