Bootle manager Mick McGraa believes the playoff race is still in their hands despite suffering defeat to City of Liverpool.
The Bucks staggered to a second defeat of the season to their rivals after second-half goals from Adam Rooney and Josh Quarless.
It was a damaging night for those associated with the club, falling down a place in the table – at the expense of the Purps. Bootle came close to beating reigning champions Leek Town, as they were crowned champions, but couldn’t follow up their solid performance in Staffordshire against Paul McNally’s side.
However, the Bootle boss believes that despite the defeat, their ambitions remain the same. He told Off The Park: “No one wants to lose derby games but we should’ve beat Leek. First-half against City of Liverpool, I thought we done okay, they didn’t really trouble us apart from Adam Rooney’s header and we were confident going out for the second-half but to be fair to City of Liverpool, they were better than us.
“It hasn’t changed anything that we didn’t know already, we need a certain amount of points and still do.
“We didn’t take our chances, you miss a penalty, miss from two yards out at 1-0, a lad clears it off the line then they punish you,” the former Vauxhall Motors boss added, discussing what went wrong against City of Liverpool.
“Missed chances cost us but we give the ball away a lot, second-half at least the turnover of the ball was terrible. It’s not going to define where we finish, we’ll have to dust ourselves down and go again.
“It wasn’t a good dressing room to be in, I’m not going to divulge what happened but it wasn’t a good place to be. The lads care, whatever happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room – some things needed to be said and done but it’s time to move on.”
Bootle host Hanley Town on Saturday as they look to end their home campaign on a high. Their form at Vesty Road has been far from pleasing throughout the season but the visit of Ryan Shotton’s side is arguably the most important as they look to maintain their advantage in the playoffs going into the final day.
McGraa says the onus isn’t just on the players but the management staff as well and they need to ‘step up’ and earn six points from their remaining two games. He said: “We all know that, it’s not just on the players but it’s about us as staff. We haven’t been good enough all season, we’ve got to make sure we play Hanley with the same tempo.
“We’ve only lost two in 15, it’s not a crisis by any means, it’s got us where we are. We need to get up again and get at Hanley looking to get three points.
“We have to get maximum points, we take six points and we’re in the playoffs. Those around us can’t (get maximum points) because they’re playing each other. It’s in our hands, come three o’clock on Saturday it’s in our hands how we get into the playoffs. If we don’t, it’s only down to us.
“They’ve got the second best clean sheet record in the league, they’re a good side with experienced lads at the back. They make it hard for teams, Linnets went there and drew 0-0 – that’s not enough for us this week.
“We’ve got to outwork them, outthink them and be clever, we’ve got to be creative, break them down but it’s about winning games now It doesn’t matter how you perform, you have to get over the line and into the playoffs then you worry about it (performances).”
