CARETAKER boss Paul Davis insists the Stratford Town players are good enough to halt a run of six defeats in a row – but they need to prove it.
Town slipped to a 4-1 home drubbing by Coalville Town last weekend, leaving them sixth from bottom in the Southern League Premier Central table.
They now face two more testing clashes, with a trip to Nuneaton Borough, who sit in sixth place, on Saturday, followed by a home fixture against second-placed Hednesford Town on Tuesday.
Davis says it is up to the players to take their own responsibilities.
“All I can do is pick a team, set us up in a certain way and ask us to play in a certain way which I felt we did for large parts of the first half in particular, even though we rode our luck a little bit,” Davis told the Stratford Town Independent Supporters Association website.
“But what I can’t do is run for them, pass the ball for them or defend for them.
“If we continue to make individual errors against good teams the ball ends up in our net. All four of Coalville’s goals were preventable.
“But what’s making me angry is that we’re constantly receiving seven-day approaches for our players and when that happens there’s players in the dressing room who don’t want to be here.
“They want to get out as quickly as they can so they’re neglecting responsibility and accountability.
“We didn’t give up but it was all down to our own mistakes.”
Town have lost the services of striker Nabil Shariff, who has rejoined one of his former clubs – AFC Rushden & Diamonds – but Davis says they are in no rush to look at new players.
“We’re not putting in seven-day approaches ourselves at the minute because the belief in the football club is that the players are good enough, but the team is not,” he added.
Davis had made five changes to the Stratford side which had been hammered 6-0 at Peterborough Sports the previous week and, despite fourth-placed Coalville having the clear edge, Saturday’s first half at the Arden Garages Stadium ended goalless.
But Adam McGurk blasted three goals in the space of 14 minutes for Coalville early in the second half to settle the contest.
McGurk smacked home the first on 53 minutes from Kian Taylor’s knock-back and then converted a penalty five minutes later after he had been fouled by Ross Oulton.
The Ravens hot-shot had his hat-trick on 67 minutes after capitalising on a wayward clearance and four minutes later it was 4-0 when Tom McGlinchey fired past keeper Jack Bennett.
Town grabbed a consolation in the first minute of stoppage time when new signing Kyle McFarlane, on loan from York City, slotted home a debut goal.
