Emley AFC manager Richard Tracey admits his side must improve at both ends of the pitch as the Pewits look to put a difficult run of results behind them. Emley exited the FA Trophy following a 5-0 defeat away at Bootle last Saturday, before returning to Northern Premier League action with a 3-1 home defeat against Workington on Tuesday night.

Tracey was particularly disappointed with the manner of the defeat on Merseyside, with Bootle scoring twice in the opening 25 minutes before adding three more after the break. He said: “I was bitterly disappointed with the Bootle game. I’ve come out and defended the lads recently and spoken about the resources available to other clubs, particularly when you look at teams at Step 3 and Step 2. But you can’t really use that argument with Bootle, so that result backfired a little bit on my defence of the players. Bootle had a wonderful set up and made us feel very welcome, but the result was hugely disappointing. Defensively, we’ve always been strong, but at the moment we’re playing without Jack and Ellis, who were both a massive part of that solid back three.

“We’ve had to change our system because we haven’t had all our centre halves available and, as a result, we’ve looked defensively weaker. At the other end, we haven’t been taking the chances we’re creating, and we’re not controlling games enough in midfield. When you’re not getting it right in all three areas of the pitch, it becomes really difficult to win games and keep games close.”

Emley had few opportunities at Bootle. Diego De Girolamo struck the post shortly before half-time with the Pewits trailing 2-0, while Alex Kiwomya was denied by an excellent save after coming on at the interval. However, Bootle proved clinical and Emley were again punished from set pieces.

Tracey added: “We conceded three goals from set-pieces at Bootle. We also conceded two from set pieces against Spennymoor and another on Tuesday night. We need to get that competitive edge back and defend our box better aerially because it’s clearly an area we’re struggling with at the moment. We built our success on having one of the best defensive records at Step 4 in the country. I never envisaged us being a team that would lose games four or five nil, even when we weren’t having a good day at the office. There’s work for us to do.
Bootle deserved to win and deserved to win comfortably. We came home licking our wounds and had to regroup quickly.”

There were far more positives for Tracey to take from Tuesday night's meeting with Workington, despite the visitors eventually leaving the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground with all three points.
Emley led 1-0 at half-time after Alex Kiwomya's dangerous ball across goal was diverted into the net by a Workington defender. The Pewits created several further opportunities before the break, hitting the woodwork twice and forcing the visitors into some important defensive interventions.

But the game turned rapidly after the restart. Lewis Hunter equalised in the 48th minute before Jamie Palmer put Workington ahead five minutes later. Emley continued searching for a way back and Danny South went close in stoppage time before Lucas Jacobs sealed a 3-1 victory for the visitors.

Tracey said: “I was bitterly disappointed with the result on Tuesday, but I was much happier with the overall performance. We created enough chances to win the game and should have been out of sight by half-time. If we score the second, and possibly the third, I think we go on and win the game. Instead, we came out for the second half and conceded two goals in six minutes, and that isn’t acceptable. We hit the underside of the bar and had one cleared off the line. Their goalkeeper made a good save at the back post, we had a free header go wide, dragged a one on one wide and had another header from a corner bounce down and go over.

“We had numerous opportunities to get ourselves back into the game and potentially go on and get a third. Instead, while we were pushing, we were hit with another late goal which completely killed the game. It’s a game we could and should have won, but we can’t keep saying that if we want to improve our league position. We have to improve and start getting results.”

Emley's task has not been helped by a growing injury list, with Tracey and his staff having to manage a number of fitness concerns during a busy period of fixtures. Ellis Farrar remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, while several more players required assessment following

Tracey said: “We’ve got a lot of players seeing Rich, the physio, at the moment. Three or four picked up problems on Tuesday night and some of them managed to play through to a certain point. Adrenaline can get you through a game, but afterwards the pain and swelling can kick in, so we’ll have to monitor those players and see where they are.
“It’s not ideal and we just can’t seem to catch a break at the moment.”

Danny South stepped in to help the Pewits against Workington, making his Emley debut in defence. Tracey added: “Danny came in and helped us on Tuesday night. I’ve worked with Danny before, he’s experienced and he knows the club, having started out with Wakefield and Emley as a young player. I thought he did a great job for us and we’re really appreciative of him coming in and helping us out.”

Despite the injury situation, Tracey insists it also presents an opportunity for other members of the squad: “What an opportunity it is for somebody else to come in, perform and say to us, ‘I should be playing every week. I’m not saying that if certain players aren’t available we can’t win a football match. It just makes it harder when you’re not putting what you believe is your strongest team on the pitch.”

Emley now travel to Warrington Rylands on Saturday afternoon for what will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs. Rylands, last season's NPL Premier Division play-off finalists, sit ninth heading into the weekend and are unbeaten in their last four league matches. Their latest outing brought a 1-0 victory away at Ilkeston Town. Emley head into the fixture 16th in the table with 10 points from their opening 10 league matches.

Saturday will be Emley's second visit to Warrington this season, having drawn 2-2 against Warrington Town at the end of August.

Tracey knows his players need to rediscover the qualities they showed during the opening weeks of their first campaign at Step 3. He said: “Nobody can legislate for the number of injuries we’ve had. That’s where it becomes disheartening because it feels like we’re firefighting at a time when we want to be building on what was a positive start to the season. I genuinely believe that across our first six, seven or eight games, the performances were good and we were competing. That hasn’t been the case in the last few league games, with the cup matches in between. But we know we’ve got players who can win football matches at this level. We’ve shown that already. We need to get players fit, get them back on the pitch, work cohesively, defend better and start taking more of our chances.”

Looking ahead to Tuesday night’s home clash with Bamber Bridge, Tracey said: “They’re a footballing team. Their manager, Milligan, was an exceptional player who came through at Everton, played professionally and then played at a very good level of non-league football. You could always see he was a proper footballer in midfield and he bases his teams around that. They’ll have a focal point, but they’ll also try to play football the right way. They’re an established club and they’ve signed three or four players recently, so they’re clearly looking to strengthen and improve on the start they’ve had. It’s another huge game for us.”

Emley travel to Warrington Rylands on Saturday, 3 October, with kick-off at 3pm, before returning to the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground to face Bamber Bridge on Tuesday night.