Buxton FC joint-boss Paul Phillips bemoans '˜worst performance of the season'

Paul Phillips is looking for his Buxton FC players to race out of the traps on Saturday when they take on Nantwich Town.
Buxton FC v Lancaster, joint manager Paul PhillipsBuxton FC v Lancaster, joint manager Paul Phillips
Buxton FC v Lancaster, joint manager Paul Phillips

The Bucks were well beaten last time out against Marine in their second of four consecutive home matches in the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Division.

Phillips said his side were guilty of letting their opponents, who moved up to sixth-from-bottom with the win, set the tempo at Silverlands Stadium.

Buxton, meanwhile, are six points behind sixth placed Gainsborough Trinity and are in need of breaking a habit.

A disappointed Phillips said: “There seems to be a trend where we play well against teams towards the top of the tree and then we take our foot off the gas against those towards the bottom.

“Again on Saturday, we let them dictate the pace and we got exactly what we deserved out of it. The best team won on the day.

“Alex Brown was probably the only player who could hold his head up high on Saturday, the other 10 were well below standard.

“After beating Whitby, who I thought were a very good team, we let ourselves down massively against Marine.

“It was one of if not the worst performance of the season.”

Phillips believes he knows where the problem lies.

“It’s been a trend not just in our reign but before us as well,” he said.

“I think it’s a psychological thing.

“Anytime we play well and we get results, which we have done over the last six or seven weeks, there’s no issue.

“Even at the Warrington game we played well but didn’t get the reward.

“Saturday we let them start the game at their tempo and we can’t do that.

“At this moment in time we’re not good enough at pulling it back round once the tide starts going the opposite way.

“That’s what we said to the lads last night at training, we’ve got to set the tempo in a game.”

John Pritchard is a major doubt for Saturday with a hamstring injury while the club is waiting to see the extent of an ankle knock to goalkeeper Theo Roberts.