Danny Whitehall: It's a chance to bounce back

Iron striker Danny Whitehall reflects on Saturday’s disappointing result at Chester but previews how Jimmy Dean’s squad will look to immediately bounce back against Spennymoor.

"Saturday was disappointing and there’s no sugar coating that," he said.

"It was an alright start, but obviously we conceded a sloppy goal that Jenks (Jack Jenkins) was disappointed with, but we all make mistakes and he’s been phenomenal for us since he’s come in so there’s nothing to be put on him.”

The Iron were disallowed a goal on Saturday for an offside call given against captain Andrew Boyce. Replays appear to show that Boyce was onside and Whitehall had this to say on the controversial decision: “I thought that Boycey was onside. I had a word with the linesman about it, and he said that he was 100% sure, but I’m not so sure because it looks like a perfectly good goal looking back.”

A positive that’s been taken is that United have the perfect chance to recover from the defeat at Chester as they face Spennymoor tonight under the lights of Glanford Park. Whitehall addressed this opportunity by saying: “It’s a chance to bounce back. Obviously we’re going to need to play a lot better than we did on Saturday, but hopefully we can do that.”

Tonight’s opponents the Moors sit third place in the National League North standings and have had an impressive start to their campaign. Whitehall gave an insight into how the team have prepared for the fixture over the course of the week: “They’re a good side who’ve got plenty of threats.

"We’ve had a look at them and discussed what they are good at and we’ll attempt to try and counteract that by doing what we do best, so hopefully we’ll be on the right side of a win."

When referring to what the Iron need to better at for tonight, Whitehall replied by saying: “It's pretty simple. We need to score more goals and not let as many in at the other end. We need a bit more of a threat up front and also need to have a bit more front foot when we haven’t got the ball.”

Whitehall began Saturday’s game on the bench but was quickly introduced to the fray as a result of fellow striker Danny Elliott being forced off injured. Elliott’s injury this provides him with a chance to regain his place in Jimmy Dean’s starting XI, he added: “Hopefully so but we have three good strikers within the squad with me, Danny (Elliott) and Benno (Richie Bennett), so the gaffer has a headache every week of who to pick so hopefully its mine tonight.

“It’s frustrating to be starting on the bench, but at the end of the day its part of football. I know that I’m capable of starting and putting in good performances, and there are lads in the squad that haven’t played as much as I have, so they’ll be frustrated too, but we’re all sticking together which is what need to do.”