Stourbridge boss hails back four
Stourbridge boss Gary Hackett has hailed his Glassboys back four as the key to maintaining their promotion push.
Hackett pinpointed defenders Nathan Russell, Craig Slater and Ross Collins – along with goalkeeper Lewis Solly – as key men in Stourbridge's terrific midweek win against high-flying Sutton Coldfield Town.
The Glassboys managed to keep a clean sheet against big-scoring Sutton, and Hackett reckons he has seen signs that his promotion-chasing team are starting to become more defensively savvy.
"Our strikers have been getting a lot of the publicity for all the goals they've been scoring in recent weeks but I think we can look at the defence as absolutely vital on Tuesday.
"For the last 45 minutes we were defensively very, very sound," he said.
"We haven't kept many clean sheets this season but I thought they were terrific against Sutton.
"It is an encouraging sign for us because we've conceded far too many goals but it looks as if we are starting to tighten up at the back now."
The midweek victory left the Glassboys second in the table, but Hackett is
determined not to get carried away with a run of form that has seen them win eight games on the spin.
He believes that Stourbridge are still relying on staying injury-free to compete with the greater budgets of Chasetown and league leaders Leamington.
"Last season is history now but it did teach us that a league position isn't important until right at the end of the season. All that matters is that we get as many points on the board as we possibly can – and we're going about that very nicely," he said.
"Because of their big budgets, I would say that Leamington and Chasetown are the favourites but we can certainly challenge them."
