McIntosh keen to make The Silverlands a fortress

After a strong showing at the Tarmac Silverlands Stadium last season, this year the Bucks have struggled to reproduce those kinds of results in the league and have lost five of their nine home games.

And with two big matches there coming up over the next week, McIntosh wants to see things change.

He said: “We won 14 of our 23 home games last season, only losing three, but this year we haven’t been able to produce similar results.

“That’s been frustrating given we’ve won five times on the road so far, showing that if we can sort the home form out we’d be able to push up the table much quicker.

“So with two big home games coming up against top six sides in the next week or so, it’s a great time to start.”

The first of those games is against Farsley Celtic wh olie sixth in the league, four points ahead of tenth-placed Buxton who have a game in hand.

Following another home tie in the League Cup against Coalville Town next Tuesday night, third-placed Grantham will then come to Derbyshire on November 18.

McIntosh said: “Farsley will be a very difficult game. In James Walshaw they have a striker who I think is among the best in the division alongside players like our own Liam Hardy, so it’ll be a tough test.

“I’m actually glad we’ve had a clear midweek this week because we have only had one or two of those since the start of the season so it’s given us a chance to recharge our batteries.”

McIntosh added that he intends to make several changes to the squad for the Coalville game.

“With a squad the size of ours, I can’t risk too many injuries to key players so we’ll make a lot of changes and I’ll talk to the development side and reserve side managers to see if we can use the best they have, to give them some good experience.”

Reflecting on last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at league leaders Altrincham, McIntosh felt happy with a point but was well aware it could have been more.

He said: “We started well and scored early on, then we’ve had nine or ten clear cut chances compared to Altrincham only probably having four or five. We’ve also had a clear penalty turned down.

“But it’s one of those games where if you’re offered a point beforehand you’d take it and Altrincham are a very good side, so we’ll take the positives and move on, although it would have been a better point had we beaten Rushall a few days earlier which we failed to do.”

Meanwhile, Buxton have added centre-half Kern Miller to their squad on a dual registration deal with Gainsborough Trinity, with McIntosh adding: “Kern needed some game time and slotted in really well at Altrincham.

“He enjoyed the game and will be a useful addition for us.”