No pressure says boss Craig Elliott as Buxton face two tough road trips at promotion-chasers

But after a 1-0 home win over Southport and1-1 draw away at Darlington on Tuesday, boss Craig Elliott is happy things are moving in the right direction.

The Bucks are six games unbeaten and had enjoyed five clean sheets before Darlington's 97th minute penalty and now head for seventh-placed Chorley on Saturday and leaders King's Lynn on Tuesday.

“We have had a lot of long journeys and a lot of difficult games recently, so these next two fixtures are going to be really hard,” said Elliott.

“But there is no massive pressure on us. Those teams are going for promotion and fighting at the top of end of the table, so they will be expected to win.

“So we can go there and just keep doing what we are doing. We are slowly improving though we are nowhere near what I want us to be. But we are making good strides towards looking like the team I want us to look and that will slowly come.

“I didn't bring too many players in to start with after taking over. I wanted to have a look at the group and I could see where we needed improving.

“I wanted to be patient and bring in the right players and we have done that. We missed out on a few as well.

“Now we are getting a bit of consistency and we look a bit more of a balanced team.

"That is reflected in the results and the performances.

“It's not easy to go to Darlington and get a result added to what we did on Saturday.

“We are now just looking forward to the next challenge, which is Chorley and we know will be difficult, and try to get as high up the table as we can.”

The draw at Darlington on Tuesday proved to be a long night that was almost abandoned after two floodlight failures.

“With the floodlights going off it was a bit of a stop-start night,” said Elliott.

“There was some good play but I think we tired a bit in the last 20 minutes and they came on strong, which you'd expect with them being at home and going for promotion. They've got some good players.

“From our point of view it was gutting that we were nearly there. I think it was a penalty, so no massive complaints. An away point at Darlington is still a good result for us.

“We can play better if I am being totally honest, but it is a difficult place to go and you have got to respect that Darlington are having a fantastic season and there was always going to be a reaction after the couple of losses that they'd had.

“The most disappointing thing is we were close to a result at the end. But I am not negative in any way or down.”

He added: “We were now six unbeaten. We have conceded a goal for the first time - but that was from a penalty as well, so we are going in the right direction and I just want to keep that positive feel to the group.

“We will dust ourselves down and go again on Saturday.

“We are getting players back, but these players are also not fully match fit – and I think you can see that a little bit.

“Last 15-20 minutes we were getting a bit leggy. But that is natural and we will get these players fit.

“I was really pleased to have a full squad today and I had to leave some players out.

“But we have a lot of good games coming up and I am really looking forward to seeing what this group can do.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​