North Ferriby United

“It’s been an interesting opening three weeks to say the least.

“After the game at Lincoln there was a good deal of doom and gloom. I told the players that they needed to “man-up”. They are a young squad and, in some ways lacking experience. Darryn and myself told them that they had to be more physical. That means being stronger in challenges, not kicking the other team of the park!

“Equally we want to be more expansive going forward. I was anticipating opposing teams to be playing a lot more football but much of what we have seen has been long-ball stuff. That’s been a big surprise.

“The response of the team in the following game at Dover was what we wanted. We still lost but it was a much better performance and that was all we could ask for. It was hard to see us with only one point and one goal from the first three games but we were looking forward to two consecutive home games.

“We targeted our home games as the ones where we needed to pick up points this season. We certainly did that against Guiseley and Torquay. Seven points from nine is a decent outcome.

“The players showed their resilience and character against Guiseley. We conceded a late equaliser but managed to score an even later winner to take all the points.

“The target is to continue collecting points at home. We aren’t going to stop now that we have won a couple of games. I’ve told the lads to keep feet on the ground and keep enjoying the experience. We have got the belief that we can win, the team are buzzing.

“On Saturday [against Torquay] we needed to up our game to get the win. I felt the team reacted positively to the half-time talk.

“I want the fans to know that we are all in this together as a group and for them to keep enjoying the experience too.

“We are working hard in training this week on defence to ensure we keep getting points. We have been gifting scoring opportunities to the other teams and we need to reduce these errors. They are generally little things but we must work at them.

“There are tough away games coming up [Aldershot on Saturday and Eastleigh a week on Saturday] but we are keen to keep the strong home record up when we play Barrow on Monday. This is a big weekend but spirit is good throughout the club.

“We started the seasons as underdogs and were probably many people’s favourites for relegation. LThe first few games may not have changed anybody’s mind. This is a tough league. Two have already sacked their managers because they have large budgets and high expectations. That is not a pressure that we are under. It means that we can probably play with a bit more freedom and enjoy the game. We certainly want to keep a smile on our faces.”