MOVING forward, Jon Macken will want to see more of the form his Witton Albion side produced in the second half of Tuesday night’s win against Mossley.
Albion got things right after the break and struck twice in four minutes through the impressive Olliver Hitchcox and Mike Koral to secure their first victory of the new campaign in Northern Premier League West.
“I think in the second half we were a lot better than we were in the first half,” said Macken, whose side drew their opening game 2-2 at Vauxhall Motors on Saturday.
“We got on the ball and tried to play in good areas, we were trying to move the ball, we were running beyond them which we weren’t in the first half, and we stopped all the little flicks whereas we were a little loose with the ball in the first half.
“We put the ball in the box and ultimately that’s where we got the two goals from.
“Mossley are a very good team, so to get a 2-1 win after being 1-0 down is really pleasing.
“I think overall I’m a lot more pleased than I was on Saturday, by their overall performance.”
Macken felt the equalising goal from last season’s manager’s player of the year Hitchcox, with a header almost off the centre-half’s bootlaces, came at the right time to make a big difference.
“I thought Ollie was tremendous. He’s just growing with every game, every week. For him to get a goal as well – it’s something we’ve mentioned, we want him to try and score a few more goals for us this year.
“To get the first goal which got us back in the game 10 minutes into the second half is a great time to score because it put them on the back foot and we got the second not long after.”
Witton put league football on the back burner on Saturday as they start their FA Cup campaign away to Congleton Town, who have made a mixed start to life alongside Northwich Victoria following their FA enforced lateral move into the Midland Football League Premier Division.
Macken has said he does not believe in wholesale changes, but hinted he will be calling on players who may not have had as much game time as others for this preliminary round tie.
Unless a replay is needed, Witton will then return to NPL action at Bootle on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 1874 Northwich were looking for a response in midweek after their opening 6-2 home loss to Kidsgrove Athletic.
They drew 0-0 in an end-to-end encounter at Stalybridge Celtic on Tuesday and came so close to winning when a Jack Irlam strike skimmed off the crossbar four minutes into added time.
1874 will next take to the field at home to Chasetown on Tuesday.
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