Skelmersdale United manager Paul McNally has his sights set on league leaders Macclesfield FC after they shared the spoils.
Both sides couldn’t be separated as Danny Whittaker’s side departed JMO Sports Park with a point that keeps the gap at the top to five points.
A visit to Longridge Town on Saturday marks the start of the second half of the season as Skem look to avenge their opening night defeat.
Since then, McNally has moulded an attacking force that has swept aside 11 North West Counties sides in their pursuit of promotion as they occupy second place in the Premier Division.
With the structure of the league, one team is automatically promoted whilst the runner-up will be forced to play out a play-off in order to book their place in the Northern Premier League.
Despite their good form, their run has been ravaged with point sharing, something the Skem hopes to sharpen up on going into the remaining fixtures.
“We’ve hit a little bit of a run of form in recent weeks, alright we drew on Saturday, then we had a couple of draws before that but we’re still unbeaten in 10 in the league,” he told Off The Park.
“It’s not bad, I’d like to convert some of them draws into wins and I think we could’ve been further from the chasing pack if we’d of had a couple wins instead of draws but can’t grumble, the lads are 10 games unbeaten and we’re second. I’d take that at the start of the season.
“It’ll be a totally different game [against Longridge] it’s at their place. Teams have changed how they play against us, earlier on in the season, we were blowing teams away and I think some teams come to us sitting back and stopping us playing.
“One or two were getting the odd result whether it was a draw or the odd win here or there. I think that was the blueprint for some of them so we’ve adjusted our style a little bit again. We’ve tweaked, but we had to because of injuries as most times have. We’re doing okay at the minute but still a long way to go.
“It was a great game [against Macclesfield], a great advertisement for non-league. The standard on both sides, the players, was top level. It was a good test but I’m disappointed because we didn’t get the win, maybe it would’ve been harsh on them if we did snatch it, there was a couple of big decisions that we never quite got on the day, a stonewall penalty.
McNally described the top of the table clash: “I just think that could’ve set us up and I didn’t feel like they were going to score, they had moments nothing that scared me and I thought we played.
“Although their manager said they were excellent on the day, if that’s excellent – fine by me – but I knew we had a couple more gears to go into.
“Unfortunately we never quite hit them but it was a top of the league game and that’s how it goes in those games, one mistake, decision and we didn’t get it on the day. It’s a shame because I do believe we could’ve got it, we’ll claw it back and try and catch them.”
[Featured image: Barry Betts Photography]
