Drayton boss Brown looks to snap three-game losing streak

Drayton travel to Ramsbottom United on Saturday looking to bounce back after a run of three close defeats.

Having opened their Northern Premier League West season with a 1-0 win over Presott Cables, the Greenfield’s men have lost 2-0 at Widnes and 1-0 at home to 1874 Northwich in the league and been edged out 3-2 by Sporting Khalsa in the FA Cup.

But despite those reverses, boss Brown has been encouraged by what he has seen from his new-look side and called for a show of patience while they continue to find their feet. “I have been at little bit frustrated in a couple of the games but at the same time encouraged by what I have seen so far, “ said Brown. “People are already commenting that the squad looks better than last year.”

“We have added a lot of players, probably 11 or 12 to the squad, and a lot of them haven’t played at this level before. They are going to need time to gel and we have to show some patience and give them time to do that.

“It’s also a new league with only a few teams in it that we played last year. So we are going to have to scout a lot of sides and find out about them. There needs to be a bedding-in period. Saturday was frustrating against Khalsa. They scored twice in quick succession before half-time which I wasn’t pleased about. Then, second half, we huffed and puffed a bit and didn’t put the ball in the back of the net until it was too late.

“With regard to Monday’s game with Northwich, they missed some good opportunities, I’m not going to paper over the cracks.

“But we hung in there and had a couple of decent opportunities late on to nick a draw. Last season we would have probably lost that game four or five.

“There are signs of progress and hopefully we can build on that.”

Brown has also added a new face to his ranks after snapping up striker Kyle Montague from Midland League outfit Shifnal Town.

Montague made an appearance as a second-half substitute on Monday night and will be pushing for start at the weekend.

“Kyle got in touch and indicated he would like to play at a higher level,” said Brown. “I told him to let Danny Carter and Andrew Carrier know at Shifnal because I wanted to do things in the right way.

“Danny said he hadn’t got a problem and wished him all the best. I have been trying to get Kyle for a while, both when I was at Ellesmere and last season when I was assistant boss here.”

“He scored plenty of goals for Shifnal and hopefully he can do that for us.

“His signing comes at a good time because Reece Jacobs is out injured for a few weeks.”