Banbury boss calls for positivity in battle against drop

​Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Scunthorpe United left the Puritans nine points adrift of safety although they have up to three games in hand on the sides above them.

And assessing the defeat when talking to Puritans Radio post-match on Saturday, Wilson pinpointed the key areas he feels need improvement.

He said: “It was always going to be a difficult game for us given they’re full-time.

"I thought we stayed in the game, which may be because of their finishing but also from good defending, and we counter-attacked quite well in the first-half but all of a sudden we didn’t pick the right pass and the opportunities went begging.

"Our centre-forwards aren’t getting hold of the ball enough, meaning the midfield players won’t go and support because they’re expecting them to lose the ball, then the full-backs sit and don’t join in and it’s a situation where we need to be better.

"I was telling the players today to get the ball to our wide players and we didn’t do it aside from a bit in the first-half, so we make our own problems really with the selection of the ball.

"Even when Scunthorpe went down to ten men we ended up just kicking the ball straight down their throats when I want them to get on the ball and play and we didn’t do enough of that.”

Banbury suffered a blow with the loss of Charlie Wise, likely for the remainder of the campaign with broken ribs and a punctured lung, with new signing Harrison Bunga, most recently with Havant & Waterlooville and Berkhamsted, taking his place.

Wilson said: “It doesn’t look good for Charlie and it sums up where we are really. I still thought we were capable of getting something but when they went down to ten we just didn’t pass the ball and cause them enough problems.”

Banbury were due to play their Oxfordshire Senior Cup semi-final with Kidlington on Wednesday night (20th), at the neutral venue of Thame United.

They then go to play-off chasing Curzon Ashton on Saturday and host South Shields next Tuesday night.

Wilson said: “We’re trying to win every game, whether County Cup or league. All we can do is be positive and look to the future – we’ve got nine games left and 27 points to play for.”