Worksop Town boss Craig Parry left with mixed feelings after win over Parkgate

Luke Jeffs and Craig Parry look on. Pic by Lewis Pickersgill.

The Steelmen restricted Worksop’s ability to attack, but the Tigers led by two goals at the break courtesy of a Steven McDonnell penalty and a Liam Bateman wonder strike from around 30 yards.

However, the Tigers came out in the second period with a bit more vigour going forward, scoring within the first minute of the restart through Ben Tomlinson’s header before James Baxendale confirmed the win with a brace.

And the Worksop boss explained how the Tigers improved in the second half.

Steven McDonnell holds onto possession. Pic by Lewis Pickersgill.

“In the first half I don’t think we were great, and I thought we were a little flat,” said Parry.

“We didn’t start on the front foot, and I think Parkgate pushed us back and put us on the back foot and it took a little bit of quality from Zayn [Hakeem] and Macca [Steven McDonnell] to get us in front and get us back into the game.

“I thought we were great in the second half, and we moved the ball pretty well; we moved it quickly and the lads gave everything we have asked over the last two-week period.

“I was pleased with some of the type of goals we scored: you look at the third goal, it comes from a high press and then switching the high press and switching the ball to the opposite side and Tomo [Ben Tomlinson] was in the right area and was clinical to stick it in the net.”

Worksop return to Sandy Lane on Saturday afternoon as they welcome Emley AFC.

Parry says that his side will be looking to improve on Tuesday’s negatives and apply it to their approach at the weekend.

He continued: “The next step for us will be to come in on Thursday and work on the points that we have picked up that we feel we need to drill into the lads to try and implement them into the Emley game.

“It is going to be a rollercoaster of a pre-season and we want to keep taking small steps forward in terms of fitness and how we want to play with our philosophy and all that side of things.

“The game on Saturday is there for us to try and implement what we are about and what we want to improve upon.”