Herring knows he has to learn fast ahead of new campaign

The Crusaders manager understands his sides preparations have to be improved

HUNGERFORD Town manager Ian Herring knows that he has to learn quickly in order to make things right ahead of the National League South campaign.

The Crusaders start their league season with a trip to St Albans City on August 4 and Herring is aware there are things to be fixed.

Hungerford suffered a heavy 6-0 pre-season defeat against Winchester City on Saturday and Herring says his side needs to improve fast.

He said: “We started well in the first five minutes, but there were three individual mistakes, myself included, which gifted them goals.

“The one positive is that it’s happened now in pre-season and I have got to learn quickly.

“That’s why I’ve brought Jeremy [Newton] and Kevin [Watson] in because they can be a huge help to this club.

“I’ll learn fast and put it right and I know it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Despite the result, the Hungerford manager was quick to praise youngsters Conor Lynch and Alex Fragata, who both made their breakthrough in the senior squad last year.

Herring said: “Those two in particular have been outstanding since they’ve come back.

“Conor makes good and intelligent runs throughout the whole game, while Alex has also been fantastic.

“They have come back and looked fit and strong and they’re looking like they’ll be ready for August 4.”

Herring held himself responsible for the defeat but believes the players need to do what they can to avoid making individual mistakes.

He said: “We tried something different in case we need to adapt during the season.

“You can talk about systems and formations, but if you’re going to make individual mistakes against sides, then it’ll result in something like what happened at Winchester.

“It was tough in the sense of the football and the score line and sometimes it’s easy to blame other people.”

Hungerford lost 3-0 at Marlow in their second pre-season friendly on Tuesday night before suffering a narrow 3-2 defeat against Oxford United on Wednesday.