Bootle manager Steve McNulty believes improvements are needed at both ends of the pitch as they look to strengthen.
A 1-0 defeat to Newcastle Town marked the latest blemish on their league record as they fell to their third straight loss.
It followed their disappointment against Ramsbottom United and Clitheroe who romped to three points on the Bucks‘ home patch.
“I thought we done alright, I thought we created enough choices to win the game, they didn’t really trouble us,” McNulty told Off The Park, speaking about the performance.
“We changed shape to get more players behind the ball, so they didn’t have many chances – I don’t think our ‘keeper made more than two saves at most so the shape done well but then obviously it takes away some attacking threat because you’re losing a forward-thinking player. I still think we created the better chances and could’ve won the game easily.
“The two performances before that I don’t think it could get any worse, conceding four at home then two the game before, there wasn’t much you couldn’t improve on. The lads went out, worked hard and the only they didn’t score on the day was not score a goal.”
Despite a slight improvement from their previous two defeats, Bootle are looking to add strength across the pitch as McNulty looks to heed the worsening run.
But the Bucks manager isn’t finding it easy to pick up the players in the areas that he wants, he added: “It’s in both boxes [where improvement is needed], we know we need to strengthen, we’re doing our upmost best to do that and get the right players in.
“You’ve got to be better in both boxes, against Newcastle Town, it wasn’t that we had no chances, we were creating but wasn’t clinical in front of goal.
“Nothing against Newcastle Town, we weren’t good enough in defending our box, we’ve got to be better in both boxes and the midfield will take care of itself – that’s where you win and lose games in that 18-yard box and that what we’ve got to improve.”
But the Bootle manager is away confidence may be slipping after their recent run and he is looking to their next game, away at Kidsgrove Athletic where they can bounce back.
He continued: “Confidence is going to dip if you’re losing games, that’s three we’ve lost now. You’ll be a fool to not think that some lads’ confidence is low.
‘We’ll be doing our best to pick them up, the good thing about football is you can always put it right in the next game, we’ll be doing everything this week to pick them up if they are down but individuals are different. We’ll make sure everyone’s alright going into Saturday.
‘It’s our second game so it’s going be a tough one, every week we’ll prepare right, we’ll pick a team we think can give us the best chance of winning a game and we’ll have a look at a few things. We go into every game to win and Saturday will be no different.
“We can do little things in training but we’ve all got to stand up and be counted, me included, we can’t get ourselves down.
“You look at the table, we’re only four points off the promotion places, that’s what we’re aiming for, so there’s no big crisis, I know we’re losing football matches and lost three in the row but we will put that right and go on a little run ourselves.”
