DEFEAT at Dagenham may have disappointed Keith Alexander, but the Macc Town boss says that one stroke of good luck could change the whole shape of the run-in writes Mike Glendinning.
The Silkmen, and their loyal fans, have suffered immeasurably in recent weeks, although Alexander has seen enough in his side’s performances to sleep soundly at night.
"There are many sides worried about getting sucked into the relegation battle but I’m not one of them," he said ahead of Tuesday night’s game at his former club, Lincoln City.
"We’re good enough not to get involved, but we’ve all been here long enough to know that you have to pick up the points to keep yourself away from trouble."
Despite slipping to 19th in the table, Alexander remains confident, but not complacent, about his side’s chances, though he freely admits a slice of good fortune would be more than welcome.
"It’s just the rub of the green," he surmised. "People keep telling me that these things even themselves out over a season, but we’ve had five or six crucial things not go our way and it’s very disappointing.
"We’ve played a lot better than the results suggest, and that’s been the story in recent weeks. We had a great chance to make it 2-0 at Dagenham, which would have settled it.
"We’ve had a young side out, six of the players at Dagenham were under 21, so it’s been difficult but we’ll get through it.
"The supporters can see we’re trying our best, we just need to get things going our way so we can get one or two results. I want to give a couple more young lads a run-out so we may be able to do that soon.
"We won’t get down-hearted, we’ll just get on with the job in hand. We’ve had half a team of more experienced players out injured, so it’s been very difficult."
Veterans Sean Hessey and Franny Green, and younger seniors James Jennings and Izak Reid are all out injured, and Alexander’s attempts to bring in a loan signing before last Thursday’s deadline proved fruitless, as the player in question "wanted more money than we could afford."
