History won’t matter if we perform, says boss

Mark Shaw expects his Worksop side to go out and prove they’re one of the Evo-Stik Premier League contenders, at Ashton United on Saturday.

Tigers’ hosts have one of the best home records in the division, and Worksop haven’t won a game at Hurst Cross since 2004, losing on their last six visits.

Shaw said history will be irrelevant if Tigers play to their potential.

“I think it’s another bogey team for Worksop, in the past they’ve had problems at Ashton.”

“We’ve got to go and get three points.”

“We’ve rested a lot of players, we’ve done things right during the week and the players are up for it. We’ve got to go out there and prove we’re a team who wants to compete with the top sides.”

“If we do that on Saturday it won’t matter about Ashton’s home record, it won’t matter about bogey teams, what will matter is that we’ve gone there and produced another performance to take three points.”

The Worksop boss will be able to select left-back Phil Roe, who has recovered from injury, but midfielder Conor Higginson is still a week and a half from full fitness.

Shaw was buoyed by the performance of a very young side in the penalties victory over Kings Lynn on Wednesday.

“We’ve put out a side that has a 17-year-old, half a dozen lads under 12, playing against a very strong side.”

“I thought we did extremely well. They had the measure of us in the first half and we gave them too much respect.”

“In the second half we’ve worked hard, showed a bit of endeavour and they’ve done the club well. We were unlucky not to win the game in 90 minutes.”

“We’ve taken the game seriously, the supporters who have come down have taken it seriously, and in the second half the young lads have shown why they were brought to the club in the first place.”

He believes Tigers now have a better squad, with an injection of experience through recent signings, and youngsters trying to prove they belong.

“On Wednesday we saw players who’ve had to sit out, and haven’t had much game time and they might have been a bit rusty, but they’ve shown they want to be part of the club.”

“I’m pleased for them, they’ve not had much of an opportunity and are probably a little bit worried about their future, seeing a few new players come through the door.”

“We’ve got a very strong squad, as we’ve shown this week competing against an Evo-Stik Premier first team with what we’d class as fringe, squad and reserve players.”

“We’ve got strength in depth now, which is something we haven’t really had at all this season.”