Handsworth need to find shooting boots – Dodsworth

Toolstation NCEL Premier Division 

Handsworth joint manager Jason Dodsworth

Jason Dodsworth says Handsworth need to find their shooting boots if they are going to reignite their campaign.

The Ambers – who visit Maltby Main this afternoon – have been on the receiving end of three consecutive league defeats and Dodsworth says his, Louis Axcell and Aiden Spowage’s men should have got more.

“We haven’t been playing badly, we just haven’t been taking our chances, that’s the top and bottom of it,” Dodsworth told Non League Yorkshire.

“We have lost the last three (league) games. Two have been 1-0 and we lost 2-0 at Hallam but in all those games we have created multiple chances.

“At Golcar we should have been 4-0 up at half-time and we lost to a 90th minute penalty there.

“Penistone was 1-0 and it was missed chances again.

“We need the dressing room to be bouncing again.

“When you lose a few everyone gets down, even the lads but they are determined to put it right and so are we (as a management team).

“As daft as it sounds, we could have won these last three games and we’d have been in the top five.

“As any team in this league knows, you put four or five wins together and you’ll find yourself up there again.

“It is quite tight anyway but you have to put these wins together and you can’t keep waiting for the next game.”

In the past few weeks, a fair bit of movement on the player front has occurred.

Iren Wilson, Jack Harrison, Toby Kenyon and Ben Townsend have left while Jonathan Hill has retired.

Dodsworth insists Handsworth are not going through a rebuild.

“We have had a few in’s and out’s,” he said.

“Lads who haven’t been getting in the starting eleven have opted to move after getting offers from elsewhere. That’s fair enough.

“Toby (Kenyon) was in and out and he opted to go to Maltby and that’s the same with Jack Harrison.

“Jack is a student and he couldn’t turn the offer he got from Maltby down.

“Iren Wilson had been on the bench and he wanted to play regularly.

“Losing Ben Townsend was a kick in the teeth because’s a class lad and class goalkeeper but he wanted to test himself in the league above.

“We shook his hand and wished him all the best because you can’t blame lads wanting to test themselves in the league above.

“Myself, Louis (Axcell) Aiden (Spowage) and the chairman (John Ward), we’re all of the same opinion that we don’t need a massive overhaul.

“We’re not looking to bring five-or-six players in. Maybe one-or-two.

“We’re playing well in games, we’re just not converting our chances. That’s something that needs to change.”

What has concerned the Handsworth management trio is their home form.

“Last season our away form was the problem and we have kind of fixed that but then flipped it because we have been terrible at home,” Dodsworth said.

“It is beyond me to be fair.

“You would thought the 3G would give us an advantage.

“We train on it and we play some good stuff on it. 

“You can’t really pinpoint why.

“We have let ourselves down at home this season and we haven’t got as many results as we should have done.

“We have another half of the season to put that right and I still believe these lads are a top six or five team.”

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