Boss Kieran McKenna says his squad has worked on “little details in the final third” at Playford Road this week as they seek to address their frustrations in front of goal.

The Blues dominated from start to finish in their games at home to Cheltenham and at Morecambe and created plenty of chances in both, however, they came away with a 0-0 stalemate against the Robins before a 1-1 draw against the Shrimps last Saturday.

“Probably over the last couple of games, that’s been the final piece,” McKenna reflected. “I think our performances over the course of 12 games have been very good.

“I think if you look at any objective markers in the league, we’re up at the top of the league in terms of how many chances we create, how few chances we give away and if you do that over a long period of time, you’re going to win a lot of football matches.

“We had two games last week where performances were very good and that wasn’t matched in terms of conversion of chances.

“That’s something that we’ve worked hard at to get to that level. I feel like our penetration and our getting into dangerous areas has improved over the course of the 12 games to the point where we’re happy with performances and we’re creating good chances.

“We’ve worked again this week on little details in the final third. Things to improve in terms of movement and in terms of execution of the final pass, execution of crosses, execution of finishes, and that’s something we want to continue to get better at.

“But each game has its own life and because we’ve played well and because we’ve created chances in the last two games, it doesn’t mean we’re going to do it at Fleetwood.

“We need to start from scratch again and we need to do things well that we did in those last few games, and those things are numerous and they are not easy to repeat.

“It’s not just about finishing chances. We have to hit those performance levels again and go beyond those performance levels on a weekly basis.

“And if we do that we’ll continue to create chances and over the course of time I think we have players and the ability that we know can score goals and take chances.

“And if we continue to perform how we have in the last couple and fight to those performance levels, then I think goals will come.”

McKenna has rotated his strikers for most of his time at Town but has he considered giving anyone a run of games in which to rebuild their confidence?

“We consider everything,” he said. “Picking a team and picking a set-up is always a complex thing over the course of a week.

“It involves our players, our strengths, how we see the players in training, how the last game went and the opposition that we’re playing and their strengths and their weaknesses.

“We take all that into consideration and every player, not just strikers. I think every player enjoys the thought of having five or six games in a row and you’ll be guaranteed to play, you’ll play no matter what, you’ll get a run of games. I think every player enjoys that feeling.

“We’re in a spell where initially it was very important to me to get a good look at everybody, to assess the squad, get everybody feeling like a part of it and have a chance to contribute and a chance to make an impression.

“And I think that’s been beneficial to the group, it’s been beneficial to the performances and the results but has very much been beneficial to the atmosphere and to the dynamic here at the training ground and around the club.

“I think we’re at that stage now where everyone feels part of it and everyone knows there’s an opportunity there, but we’re also coming to the business end of the season and it’s very much about also staking your claim for your place in the team.

“Those who are fortunate enough to get the shirt on Saturday, it’ll be their goal and it’ll be up to them to put in a really good performance in whatever position and try and make it very hard to leave them out of the team.

“That’s the challenge across the board, that’s the challenge across all positions and I think the players know that’s where we’re at in the season and that’s where we’re at now in the group.

“Everyone’s a part of it but it’s up to those who get the opportunity to play to fight to play more and more minutes and it’s up to those who aren’t selected for any given game to fight in training to show that they deserve the opportunity to get in the team and then to stay in the team.”

Photo: TWTD

ImAbeliever added 16:36 - Mar 3 No verbal diarrhoea here.
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johnwarksshorts added 16:59 - Mar 3 I hope those little details include putting in decent corner kicks as we are lacking in that area.
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dukey44 added 17:55 - Mar 3 And the players have spent a long time on how to take a corner and put it in the net?
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Wicksy added 20:26 - Mar 3 I have complete faith in KM's ability to sort it out. Haven't felt so positive about a Town manager's ability for years
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ArnieM added 20:39 - Mar 3 Sorry this is a four letter word …….GOAL!!!!
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PortmanTerrorist added 23:14 - Mar 3 Play offs or not, we have a genuine sea change happening here that is clear for all too see from the players to the fans. What is not to like. It might well be that we do not have a quality striker to get us promoted, and who ever gets promoted without a 20 goal striker?! Based on that stupid logic, put Bonne in as the only one who can get close, tell him it is his shirt, and build the attack to his strengths. He cannot keep missing, and the bonus is he is likely to go on a run of scoring after the first goes in off the proverbial backside !

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atty added 11:04 - Mar 4 So refreshing to read these detailed and articulate responses.I think we've got a good un here.
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micky_1560 added 13:54 - Mar 4 I respect that picking the strikers is all a matter of opinion, but Bonne is not the man for me. His early season form was a purple patch never seen before in his career and probably won't be seen again. Maybe the change in tactics doesn't suit his play, but he was loaned out by QPR for a reason. Some of his misses are dreadful and he has probably had more of those than he has scored. I base my opinion on the positions he takes up for crosses into the box and never gets across his defender. So with my attack of Bonne complete, what to do? And that's the problem, all the strikers have hit a barren spell at the same time, I don't rate Jackson as he is too inconsistent, Norwood doesn't look as if he has 90 minutes in him and Piggot who I rate, but can see why others don't is so shot of confidence! For that reason, I would always play Celinia and Chaplin, but then again, they are inconsistent, but at least both are capable of scoring goals. I also don't go for the theory that rotating the strikers has caused the drought, they just have done well enough when they have played. So, just like McKenna and everyone, I haven't got an answer, only opinions.

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micky_1560 added 13:55 - Mar 4 *haven't done well enough
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