Whing confident Puritans will come out of their ‘sticky patch’

The Puritans suffered a third defeat in a row in all competitions on Tuesday night as they were beaten 3-1 at Vanarama National League North leaders King’s Lynn Town.

That came after they lost 2-1 at Spennymoor Town last weekend while the three-game losing run began with a 2-1 reverse at Bracknell Town in the fourth qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Banbury, who were promoted to Step 2 last season, are still sitting in eighth place in the National League North table and are just three points behind second-placed Darlington.

As Whing acknowledged, it’s the first real tough period he and his team have gone through since he arrived at the club for what has, so far, been an incredibly successful reign.

And he fully expects things to turn back in his team’s favour sooner rather than later.

“Don’t get me wrong, we have to be better at certain things,” the Puritans manager said.

“Tommy (King’s Lynn boss Widdrington) said after the game that he knew we had a weakness at set-pieces and they have scored two goals from them.

“We do know we are pretty small but do we change it, get four six-footers in the team and then we can’t play football?

“It’s those fine margins. We are carving out chances and we must have had five clear-cut opportunities on Tuesday.

“This is our first real sticky patch in over two years but I can’t fault our performances.

“We are getting punished for an odd mistake and it’s an unforgiving league, we know that and we are learning about that.

“Last year, we were getting away with those little mistakes but now we are so we have to look at that.

“We know it will turn at some point and hopefully that’s on Saturday.”

The game in question is a first home match in four weeks as Whing’s men take on Kidderminster Harriers at the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium.

The games are still coming thick and fast as that is immediately followed by a short trip to struggling Kettering Town next Tuesday night.

“If you look at our fixtures we haven’t been at home for four weeks,” Whing added.

“We’ve had Blyth, Bracknell, Spennymoor and King’s Lynn all away from home in the space of four weeks, which is unbelievable really.

“We’ve had injuries and suspensions in that time so it all adds up.

“We aren’t getting carried away by the results. We are eighth and three points off second place.

“We do have to learn that we can’t keep missing chances and concede goals like we have done.

“But I know we will be alright.”