Bully wants focus on league
Stafford manager Steve Bull has urged his side to forget their FA Cup humiliation and put their focus back to challenging in the Blue Square North at the weekend.
Stafford manager Steve Bull has urged his side to forget their FA Cup humiliation and put their focus back to challenging in the Blue Square North at the weekend.
Rangers are still smarting from their exit at the first hurdle at Midland Alliance outfit Coalville Town, a team some four levels below them in the non-league pyramid, in a disappointing first foray into the cup for Bully as a boss.
Yet in the Blue Square North form has been very encouraging. Defeat at Owen Street is the only defeat suffered in September, with three clean sheets kept in one-goal wins over Blyth Spartans, Droylsden and Gateshead.
Even in the Setanta Shield, Stafford could not be beaten, as they twice came from behind to dispose of Alfreton, booking a meeting with Blue Square Premier opposition in Northwich Victoria on October 14.
The point is that one game does not define a season, a point Bully is keen to stress.
He said: "That game is over now, done with. The league is my priority, because I want to be the man to get this club up. We play Harrogate on Saturday and if we play anything like we did against Coalville, we will lose 5-0 or 6-0.
"The Coalville game was up there with the loss to Southport as the worst display of the season. It was simply not good enough. But it is gone now and we have to move on.
"We have done well to get this far and I don't want to see that work undone. I just hope we turn out for the supporters on Saturday."
The game with second-placed Harrogate will be a big test of Rangers' mettle. The home side have not enjoyed the greatest of times at Marston Road, winning just two of their five games as hosts.
They will be buoyed by the fact that the visitors have exactly the same away record that Stafford have at home, setting up an intriguing clash between the early promotion-chasing sides.
To make matters worse. Bully will spend this week sweating on the fitness of key players, with captain Wayne Daniel a major doubt with a back injury and still no word on Tom Thorley, who will see a specialist today.
Whatever happens, the boss wants his players to get it right on the training pitch and then on the field on Saturday, going some way to addressing their patchy home form.
Bull added: "We have the week now to train and regroup. We haven't played at home for a while, so it will be great to be back at Marston Road on Saturday.
"Our home form has not been anywhere near as good as our away form and we need to do something about it."