Tigers boss: Keep the faith

Worksop have lost their last three league games in a row, struggling to replicate the form that saw them beat Matlock Town 6-1.

And while Clark insists he, his staff and the players will do all they can to snap the losing streak, he says the fanbase have a part to play as well.

“The fans have to keep the faith, keep backing the players, the staff and me,” he said.

“When we’re in a period like this, what do the fans do? What do I do? What do the players do? We regroup, we work out what our problems are and we fix them.”

“The players love playing for this club, they love the fans and they need the fans’ backing.”

The effort to turn things around at Sandy Lane began almost as soon as Saturday’s 4-0 defeat by Hednesford finished.

And Clark was hoping to pick his players up in a team meeting on Wednesday night, ahead of this weekend’s trip to Witton Albion – if the weather holds.

Clark said: “I couldn’t sleep on Saturday, I was up at 3.30am going over things, working things through. And when I get the DVD I’ll watch it twice.”

“I’m pragmatic, my job is now to solve the problems and motivate the players.”

“We’ve got a team meeting on Wednesday night and we’ll sit down with the players individually, as units and as a team and dust ourselves down, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get back to what we’re good at.”

The manager is hopeful that he can bring another two players into the club in the coming week, with the likliehood that a couple will depart from the squad.

But he’s not panicking about his side’s promotion bid.

“We’re fifth, and when we took over 16 months ago we were third bottom. We’re in the play-off spots and the aim is to be there at the end of the season,” he said.

“We’ve had a very good run since 18th September, at the moment we’re struggling, but we are going forward as a club and seasons are not won and lost in three game spells, it’s over 42 games.”

“We’ve been affected by injuries but that happens.”

“Losing three in a row at any level isn’t good, but we’re working hard and doing all we can to fix it.”

Tigers hope that defender Luke Shiels will be fit to face Witton, but it’s expected that Leon Mettam may miss out through a quad strain.