King seeks FA Cup pick-me-up for Gainshborough Trinity after another defeat

Frustrated manager Liam King is seeking an FA Cup pick-me-up for Gainsborough Trinity after another disappointing defeat in the league.
Kingsley James in the thick of the action for Gainsborough Trinity at Witton Albion. (PHOTO BY: John Rudkin)Kingsley James in the thick of the action for Gainsborough Trinity at Witton Albion. (PHOTO BY: John Rudkin)
Kingsley James in the thick of the action for Gainsborough Trinity at Witton Albion. (PHOTO BY: John Rudkin)

Trinity were beaten 1-0 at mid-table Witton Albion on Saturday to leave them fourth from bottom in the BetVictor Northern Premier League, Premier Division.

So he is hoping that this Saturday’s FA Cup, Second Qyalifying Round trip to Walsall to play Rushall Olympic will resurrect his team’s early-season fortunes.

“We have a big FA Cup tie and we have to pick ourselves up,” said King. “I wouldn’t say it’s a welcome distraction because we need to start getting league points on the board.

“But we are still in the competition and we need a reaction now. My words to the lads after the Witton match were: it’s no good saying we are a good team. We need to prove it now.”

The formbook says it won’t be easy on Saturday because Rushall are top of the table in the BetVictor Southern League, Premier Central Division, which is the same level on the non-league ladder as Trinity.

King’s side certainly need to improve on their league form because they have now lost four of their opening six matches.

He added: “It was not a bad performance at Witton, and we battled well.

“But it doesn’t matter about the performance. I’m not bothered about how we play as long as we get the points.

“Yes, it is always concerning if we aren’t playing well, but it’s all about points. We need to be more ruthless.

“In the first half, we had some good spells. We looked solid and when we went in at half-time, I was happy. But we never got started in the second half.”

In the end, Trinity were undone by a stunning strike from 25 yards by Witton’s Liam Goulding. who thundered the ball home after a corner had only been partially cleared 13 minutes from time.

However, King was concerned how the corner came about after a mistake by goalkeeper Joe Green.

“I told him he had to catch it, instead of fumbling it,” said the Holy Blues boss. “It is a man’s game now.

“Yes, the scorer has put it in from 25 yards, but it shouldn’t have been a corner in the first place.

“Individual errors keep costing us, and it needs to be addressed.

“Yes, Joe didn’t have another shot to save gthroughout the 90 minutes, but nobody’s interested in me saying that. It’s all about points. I have played in teams that haven’t performed well, but we have still won the game.”