Mettam demands more consistency from Steelmen players ahead of hectic run of fixtures
Leon Mettam says Corby Town are 'still right in the mix' in the race for the play-off places in the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division - but has told his players they are going to have to up their performance levels.
Mettam was unhappy with the first-half showing of his team in their 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Anstey Nomads on Saturday, insisting the Steelmen effectively gave their visitors a '45-minute head start'.
He was happy with an improved second-half performance, but it wasn't enough to earn any sort of reward, and as Corby enter a hectic run of fixtures he wants to see more performances like the one that secured the 2-1 win at Belper eight days prior to the Anstey loss.
On Saturday, the Steelmen start a run of five matches in the space of 15 days when they travel to Mickleover.
That is followed by a trip to Boldmere St Michael's (Feb 4), home matches with Wellingborough Town (Feb 7) and Shepshed Dynamo (Feb 11) and then a Valentine's Day trip to bottom-of-the-table Loughborough Students.
It will be a testing run, but Mettam is happy with that.
"Especially after results like the one on Saturday, you want the games to come round the corner thick and fast and we have a chance to do that now," the Steelmen boss told @corbytownfc.
"We are still right in the mix, we have played Belper who are second, Anstey who are right up there, and we have games coming up now against Wellingborough, and then Boldmere and other teams that are down there, Loughborough Students.
"So we need to go out and pick up good results, and I have every faith in the lads that we can do that, if we put performances in like we did at Belper and in the second half on Saturday.
"We put a lot of effort into that second half, but I go back to it, a game is 95 minutes not 45 minutes, and you cannot give teams head starts like we did."
Asked how he will prepare the players for the upcoming fixtures rush, Mettam added: "With a lot of games coming up now we are playing Saturday-Wednesday for pretty much the whole of February.
"So training becomes difficult after this week, but it's no excuse because we know what is expected of us.
"We have a game plan and we know what we want to do, but you could just do with a few more hours on the training pitch, especially when you are throwing a new squad together, or a new team as they don't all know each other.
"So it does become a little difficult, but it's nothing these lads aren't used to because that is what non League is all about."
Saturday sees Corby go to a Mickleover side sitting in 11th place in the Midlands Division, but they were hammered 4-0 at Sutton Coldfield Town last weekend. That defeat brought to an end a four-match unbeaten run.