'We've got more to give': De Havilland calls for response after fourth straight loss

Will de Havilland hopes he’ll be celebrating again when the Magpies visit Leamington in the FA Trophy on Saturday

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Will De Havilland says he and his teammates must extract more from themselves in the coming weeks as they look to end a run of four straight losses in the National League South.

United have fallen into an awful run of form in the league, slipping to 14th in the table and - for the time being at least - looking a long way short of a side capable of challenging for promotion back to the National League.

The Magpies have lost most of their recent matches by one goal, and that was once again the case on Saturday as visitors Torquay United survived a late scare at York Road to seal a 2-1 win.

De Havilland was on target at York Road on Saturday, but unfortunately it came at the wrong end to put the Gulls two goals to the good with just under 20 minutes remaining.

Liam Dulson scored an injury-time consolation to give the home side hope as the game entered its dying embers, but despite causing one or two more dangerous moments in the Gulls’ area, the visitors held onto the lead given to them by Callum Dolan and de Havilland’s own goal.

Dolan smashed the Gulls in front from distance shortly before half-time, and De Havilland headed past Jordi Van Stappershoef in the 72nd minute to put the visitors in full control. Their grip on the three points was loosened in the final minutes, as the Magpies frantically threw caution to the wind, but it couldn’t be prised off entirely.

Speaking after the final whistle, De Havilland admitted his side need a positive result, however, that comes.

“Everyone in the team is dying to win,” said the defender.

“They’ll all put their bodies on the line to get the win. The second goal is one where I’ve tried to get my head on it and steer it out for a corner, but the pace of it might have done me.

“I’ve not been able to get their quick enough and it’s gone in the back of the net unfortunately.

“We know we’ve got it in us to attack well and score goals. But in the last few games we haven’t scored the first goal which would be massive. If we can get the lead and then try to hold onto it. Because when teams score, they then drop a bit deeper, and it becomes harder for us to break them down. The last 10 minutes we did throw everything forward and looked more dangerous. Duls (Liam Dulson) got the goal, and it was a great finish. We had a couple more chances even after that which we could have put in.

“We need to stay positive, work hard and find a result from somewhere. Even if it’s a poor performance. A win is what we need for our confidence and to get us back to playing how we did when we were on our six-game winning run.”

De Havilland feels United haven’t had the rub of the green in recent tight matches against good sides in this division, but he didn’t use that to excuse away the Magpies form and believes he and his teammates should have done more to influence the outcome of games.

“I’d agree that they (Torquay) were a good side,” he said. “We were expecting a tough game but we still back ourselves to win.

“Again, it’s a game that we’ve lost by one goal. We’re not getting battered by teams but in those crucial moments, we’re not putting the goals in and we’re making mistakes at the back to let them score. That’s been the difference over the past few weeks.

“It’s hard to take but we need to stay positive and keep working hard of course.

“It’s a bit of everything; we need to do more to score. But at the same time, we’re not getting the rub of the green in our opponents’ box as well which does make a difference in football.

“It’s not all about how you play, but we’ve got a lot more to give, and we need to find a way of getting that out of ourselves.”

The Magpies take a break from their league campaign on Saturday to visit Leamington in the second round of the FA Trophy. Leamington currently sit bottom of the National League North and have only managed three league wins all season.