Warrington Town need more mental strength, admits manager

This is perhaps Warrington Town’s toughest period for the best part of a decade and as he continues to seek reinforcements to try and change things, manager Paul Carden has challenged the players currently at his disposal to show more mental fortitude.

Saturday’s 3-0 reverse at Southport saw them exit the FA Trophy just four days after the same opposition knocked them out of the Liverpool Senior Cup, while their FA Cup run was ended by Radcliffe earlier this season.

Town were knocked out of the FA Trophy by Southport on Saturday (Image: Sean Walsh) In the league, their bid to avoid a return to the Northern Premier League sees them just a point above the relegation places ahead of a crucial trip to bottom side Rushall Olympic on Saturday.

Having added left-back Jack Hont and forward Elliot Morris to his squad in recent days – the former City of Liverpool pair could both make league debuts at the weekend having been cup-tied for the Trophy clash – Carden says he is looking for players who are “stronger physically and mentally” than the ones he currently has.

Following Saturday’s defeat – which he described as being “men v boys” – he openly called the resilience of those in his dressing room into question.

“We’ve obviously got key players missing which doesn’t help, but we’ve still got to acquit ourselves much better than we did today. It was men v boys,” he said.

“We’re full of disappointment whenever we concede – there’s no positive reaction and we’ve got to change that quickly. I keep saying that, but it has to come from the players.

“We have to get stronger players in, both mentally and physically because at the minute, we’re reliant on Peter Clarke and Jay Harris at 42 and 37 to hold us together, and we’ve got one of them out of the team.

“Josh Amis is obviously a miss – we couldn’t really risk him with his shoulder – but we’re asking people to step up so that we’re not dependent on the same players, but it’s not happening.

“To be fair to them, the fans keep going and I’m gutted for them to see the form we’re in at the minute.

“Over the past six or seven years, they’ve not been used to seeing us not be competitive and that’s something we’ve got to change.

“I don’t enjoy it and I’m not enjoying it at the minute – at times there’s an effort there but we’re not working smart enough.

“There’s some players in there who are too easily knocked off their stride and that’s evident. We concede a goal and that resilience just doesn’t seem to be there.

“How do we get it? That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?

“Players pick themselves and players drop themselves and at the minute, you’re selecting from players who aren’t playing well.

“We’ve got to address it and that’s something we continue to work on.”

While he has managed to get two permanent deals over the line to bring Hont and Morris to Cantilever Park, Carden outlined the difficulties of doing further business at this current stage of the season.

However, he insists his pursuit of squad improvements will not stop.

“Every time I’m getting messages and taking calls, I’m trying to strengthen the squad but it’s not always easy,” he said.

“We spoke to a player about coming in, but he’s happy to be on the bench in this division and has played about 25 minutes in the last month.

“Sometimes when you hear those players are happy to sit it out, maybe they’re not right anyway.

“We’re really trying and we’re doing everything we can, but trying to build at this stage of the season is not always easy.

“Squads are settled and in the front areas where we need goals, if a player is scoring goals clubs don’t tend to let them out.

“It’s tough but we’ve got to keep going.”

Before the trip to Rushall, Town are in Cheshire Senior Cup action on Tuesday night with a trip to Cammell Laird - a game that is likely to see a largely young Yellows side take to the field.