Dont Reed all about it
BUXTON FC's players have been told to avoid reading their club's own forum because of negative comments by fans which are affecting their already shattered confidence.
Morale in the dressing room is already low after disappointing defeats in the FA Cup and FA Trophy, and manager John Reed now has the difficult task of rallying his players ahead of a difficult UniBond league match away to FC United of Manchester on Saturday (kick-off 3pm at Gigg Lane, home of Bury FC).
And Reed believes the negative comments on the forum are having a much bigger impact on his players than the fans realise.
"The lads are down," Reed told the Advertiser. "We could sense it on Saturday and you could see it just by looking at their faces. They know how the club had the chance to make history and it was a massive blow.
"It's easy for people to sit behind a computer and say this and that about them. They probably think it doesn't hurt the lads but make no mistake about it, when the lads read it, it hurts them.
"One or two of them have come in talking about it so I've told them the best thing is just to stay off the forum.
"The big thing for us now is consistency. We need to be consistent week in, week out and try and put a good run together.
"We are going to mount an assault on the league and try and get as far up the table as possible.
"I know the team is good enough. We beat Stocksbridge, Ashton and Kings Lynn and they are three of the top teams.
"It was only about three weeks ago when Boston came and beat us 1-0 and since then, up to last week, they were top of the league. We just need to string together three or four results.
"We've got four games in hand over Stocksbridge and if we win all those we'll be just behind them and they are in third."
And Reed hopes his side's league assault will get off to a good start this weekend when Buxton travel to FC United.
"It should be a good day," he said. "Karl Marginson (FC United manager) likes his lads to play the ball down so it should be a good game of football."
Reed has a full squad to pick from, as impending bans for Scott Hartley and Kieran Lugsden, from last weekend's FA Trophy match, are not expected to start until possibly the week after.
Speaking about the Trophy match, which Stourbridge won 1-0 and saw three players see red, Reed said: "It was a very frustrating match. The three officials cost us that game.
"I thought they came on the team bus with them. They missed a million things.
"If I'm being honest, we're looking a bit toothless up front. Gav and Reedy never got to the races all game. I know they scored a few days earlier against Burscough but if we had had a bit of a cutting edge up front we would have won that match."
* Buxton's scheduled fixture on Saturday November 21 against North Ferriby has been postponed.
The Bucks will travel to Guiseley on Tuesday January 26, and on April 17 will be away to Whitby.
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Weather for Buxton
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
