Victory over Staines a relief

CITY assistant manager Mark Peters was delighted to see his side get the rub of the green during Saturday’s victory over Staines Town.

The 2-0 triumph ended a 10-game winless sequence for the Saints and was only their third win at Clarence Park in the last 12 months and Peters felt a big factor in the victory was that decisions seemed to go the Saints’ way.

“I think it’s been coming. I think last week we were very unlucky, we have had, shall we say, some indifferent performances from referees that have made things difficult for us, some decisions don’t seem to be going our way,” Peters said afterwards.

“It’s definitely been coming and today everything just seemed to go our way, from the great strike from Tony (Battersby), the clearances from the boys, the blocks – it just seemed to go our way today and I think it was more relief.”

City fully deserved the three points thanks to an excellent team performance with the defence and, in particular, Adam Everitt in sparkling form.

“I think Adam’s been a sensation all year just with his attitude both on and off the pitch,” added Peters.

“In training he leads by example and again you’ve got to look at Baz (Paul Bastock) who’s pulled off two great saves to keep that clean sheet and stop them getting any momentum. And then Tony (Battersby) has been fantastic up there. His strength and his knowledge of the game has given us that bit of breathing space to get out of our half and play in their half whereas admittedly it has been coming back a little bit too quickly in previous games.

“I think we dealt with their threat very well all game. We were very tight at the back, the two in midfield were superb, we’ve been talking about partnerships on the pitch and we look like we’re getting that now in certain areas and that’s what you need.”

Battersby put the Saints on their way on Saturday with a fantastic strike taking his tally to two in two games for the club. The striker’s ability to hold the ball up on his own has helped relieve the pressure on the City defence and has made a real difference and Peters says the challenge now is for the forward to recreate that performance every week.

“Tony’s come in he’s played two games and scored two goals,” said the City assistant boss.

“I think his strength is something we’ve missed, that reliability that the ball can go into him and it sticks. I’m pleased for everyone, especially Tony himself, he’s come and had two good games but for Tony now he has to take that on and he’s got to do that week in week out which I know he can do because I was with him at Rushden & Diamonds.”