Paul Phillips calls for consistency from his Buxton FC squad

Buxton FC need to sort out their inconsistencies, says boss Paul Phillips.

The Bucks moved away from the foot of the table on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Witton Albion at the Tarmac Silverlands Stadium.

Diego De Girolamo continued his rich vein of form with both goals and hit the woodwork a further three times as the hosts dominated.

It moved Buxton away from the foot of the table and was a second clean sheet in a row after the goalless draw at Gainsborough Trinity.

The scoreline perhaps flattered Witton.

Reflecting on recent form, Phillips said: “The games with South Shields and York could have gone either way against two very good teams.

“We let ourselves down massively against FC United then did well against Grantham and Witton.

“No disrespect, but we could have scored as many against Witton as we did against Grantham - we just didn’t take our chances.

“Witton are a very good team, the manager is a great bloke too, but if we hadn’t won that game there would have been an injustice going into the next one.

“We battered them and even they said that they got away quite easily with a 2-0 defeat.”

De Girolamo again impressed and Phillips has been pleased with the former Sheffield United forward’s contribution in recent weeks.

“No-one has ever questioned his ability,” said the Buxton boss.

“His appetite to work, his willingness to do it and his understanding of the game at this level I’ve questioned a few times to him and others.

“But over the last seven or eight weeks he’s been a different player. He’s been head and shoulders above anything we’ve come up against.

“Every other manager has commented on how good he’s been, he’s scoring goals and he’s doing exactly what we wanted from him when we brought him in.

“It’s taken 12 months to get that integration, longer than I thought, but if he can carry on doing what he is doing then the world is his oyster.

“He was unplayable on Saturday.”

He’s not the only one who has caught the manager’s eye.

Brian Wilson and Aaron Chalmers have come in and they are getting the ball to his feet,” said Phillips.

“He’s not having to fight for it all the time, he’s getting quality up to him.

“That’s not to take anything away from Jude (Oyibo) and Liam (Hardy) on the either side of him who worked really hard.

“It’s worked quite well.

“If we keep playing the way we are doing, and take the inconsistency of the FC United performance away, then we’re playing better football in the past six weeks than we’ve ever played during my time at the football club.

“Half of that is down to Diego adapting to being a Number 9.”

Buxton arranged a friendly game against Leek Town on Tuesday night to give minutes to a handful of first-team players and academy prospects.

Phillips’s side face Hyde United in the FA Trophy on Saturday.

“Hyde will be a tough game,” he said. “They’ve got a good forward line. They’ll hit you on the break. We need to make sure we do our own job.

“If we do what we did against Grantham and Witton we’ll have as good a chance as anyone on winning the game on Saturday.

“If we play like we did against FC United then it’ll be a long afternoon and that’s where we need to get the inconsistencies right.”