Worksop Town boss Craig Parry wants his side to play with freedom

Tigers have had a week off from training this week to recharge their batteries.

Worksop Town manager Craig Parry wants his side to play with freedom as they prepare for a tough April period that could see them move into the play-off positions, writes Devon Cash.

The Tigers face four of the top five teams in their final five games of the campaign, starting with a trip to the North East to face fifth-placed Shildon, who have a five-point safety net.

And with Shildon falling to a 2-1 defeat against Ossett United last weekend, Worksop are still left with a slender chance of making the top five should they be victorious on Saturday.

Parry said: “Where we sit in this minute in time, our remit at the start of the year was to be competitive and we’re sat in sixth with a slim chance of getting into the play-offs, so we are competitive and we’re in a cup final.

“I don’t think we should be downbeat with what it is and yes, I was disappointed with the Liversedge result as I felt we should have come away with at least a point, but it is up to us to dust ourselves

down and pick ourselves up and go again.

“We have still got a lot of things to strive for and we need to be positive over the next five games: it creates opportunities, and we go into games where we aren’t expected to pick up points and most

people are saying the top five is what it is, and it should drive our motivation to give it a good go.

“I know money can dictate things in football, but I don’t think there is a better club to play your football at than ours at this level because you get looked after and the players now have to put in those performances to prove to me that their name should be in the squad list for next year when we start rebuilding in June.”

Parry gave his side a break after last Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Liversedge to revitalise his squad ahead of the run-in.

He added: “I gave them seven days off; I think it is vital that we reset everything and sometimes as a group you can get in and train and work hard but we do that all the time and they’re a fit team and we have no one in there that is carrying any weight or anything like that.

“When we have been training every Tuesday and Thursday and playing Saturday for a long period, it can sometimes make things worse if we keep things within the group, so they have had time off to recharge their batteries mentally.”