WE have seen two gutsy performances over the last few days and it was important to call on those qualities if we were going to beat Stafford Rangers and especially Altrincham.

There has been plenty of flak thrown at us lately -- our record, as people keep telling me, is that we have not won that many games this season.

But we can fight back and say we haven't lost too many either.

All we can do to respond to the critics is win games and we did that on Saturday and Monday night.

We showed plenty of character against Altrincham to come back from a goal down with ten men. Nobody could have predicted what happened late in the game, I certainly couldn't.

We picked up another 2-1 win against Stafford. It would have been nice to have kept a clean sheet and I think we would have done but for Mark Owen's injury.

It was a cruel blow for Mark and everybody all round. I knew Mark had done something when he collided into the piece of hoarding. You can sense it, your gut feelings work overtime in football and it was a long delay when he was down.

He was in severe breathing difficulty and he has damaged his ribs, which will now keep him out for some time.

Words fail me at times. We've had some tough times in football but these injuries are unbelievable. It's so cruel because Mark was playing, to some degree, like the player of old and he was in really good form. I think Mark is sick of the sight of ambulances, surgeons and consultations.

It dampened what was a good night and a good performance overall plus the fact we scored two great goals.

Liam took his goal really well and it was an outstanding finish from Mark, as good as those he scored against Southport and Altrincham.

I spoke to Stafford manager Phil Robinson before the game and I knew what sort of side he was going to pick. We didn't have too many options but we made a few changes with some of the younger players making their mark.

Liam had a good performance in the centre of midfield and there was more of what I was looking for from him. I thought it was an enthusiastic, gutsy performance from Tom Warmer and more than a good performance from Shabir at the back.

I was quite happy with the partnership between Shabir and Carl Heeley. Colin Hoyle has been a stalwart for us in the last few weeks and it was important to give him a rest.

Shabir came and attacked the ball all night and in the areas where I though he might need to improve on, he was excellent. But we still need to protect him and I will decide when he plays and when he doesn't.