IAN Street described his the experience of watching his side last Saturday as ‘miserable’, but stated 1874 Northwich’s players should not need motivating for tomorrow’s derby duel with Runcorn Linnets.

They have yet to beat their neighbours in five previous attempts, losing on three of those occasions.

However after suffering successive losses in the North West Counties League for the first time this season when they fell 2-1 against Padiham last weekend, the manager admits they can ill-afford another one.

“It doesn’t matter that we’re playing Linnets – we have to get back to winning ways,” he said.

“It’s a derby, and there’s no doubt they’ll be well up for it and we should be too.

“I was disappointed with our performance [against Padiham]; it summed up how things have been since we lost at Colls – flat.

“I needed to see more of a response than I did.

“Yes, we had players missing but there were lads that had an opportunity after kicking their heels for a bit – ones that had been saying to me that they should be starting – and yet they didn’t take it.

“It turned into a horrible day, and yet it was a game that we still could have won had we not made silly mistakes.”

The Storks inflicted a first home defeat on 1874 since the start of 2017, leaving them fourth in the Premier Division table.

Atherton Collieries, at the summit, are eight points better off with a game in hand.

Meanwhile Linnets, this weekend’s visitors, are unbeaten in their past half-dozen matches following a surprise 5-2 home reverse against Hanley in January.

Street said: “We’ve a mountain to climb now [in the title race].

“I was expecting a big reaction [against Padiham], but there wasn’t enough of one.

“Before kick-off, I asked the players ‘Can we still do it?

“It shouldn’t have made a difference that we’d not played a game for a fortnight.”