Cowan challenges his Brackley players to make St James Park a fortress
Brackley Town boss Gavin Cowan wants his team to make their home matches count, starting with Saturday's game against South Shields.
The Saints suffered a 1-0 defeat at St James Park last weekend, losing to a Radcliffe side who had gone 10 games without a win at the start of the Vanarama National League North season.
But Brackley bounced back well on Tuesday night, winning 3-1 at Needham Market thanks to two goals from Danny Newton and one from Gaz Dean.
The Saints are back at home again on Saturday as they host South Shields.
It will be the first of three successive league matches at St James Park, where Brackley will also play an FA Cup first round tie, against Braintree Town on November 2.
And ahead of the clash with a South Shields side who currently sit 15th in the standings, Cowan said: "It's another really tough test.
"The league's just relentless.
"They're a tough test for us and we're a tough test for them.
"We've spoken about wanting to turn St James Park into a fortress again - too many times teams have come and nicked something there.
"We want it to be a real advantage at home and we need a big push on Saturday to perform.
"Performances have been there for the most part but we have to put teams away.
"We're fully focused on the league and it's a quick turnaround.
"We need to make sure the lads are all ready and fit and raring to go."
All of the goals came in the first half on Tuesday night, with Newton starting the scoring just a minute in at Needham Market.
He then put Brackley back ahead after the home side had equalised before Dean converted from a corner.
And the Saints had plenty of opportunities to stretch their lead before the end.
"It's becoming a bit of a common theme and we've challenged the players because if we're going to create that number of chances we've got to score more," Cowan said.
"It was the same on Saturday because if we take a couple of those chances in the first half, it becomes a different game.
"On Tuesday night, fair play to Needham, they're a very good, technical team, and it just shows the strength of this league.
"We gave them a couple of chances towards the end where they hit the bar and one flashes across the goal, but that doesn't happen if we're a bit more clinical and ruthless.
"One thing I will say about my players is that they've come to Needham, a long journey on a Tuesday night, and their hard work, desire and going above and beyond has been brilliant.
"Do we want to concentrate a bit more in the final third and be a bit more ruthless? Yes. We'd have won 10-0 if we'd not been looking for areas of improvement.
"But ultimately we got the win, the lads have performed brilliantly for the most part.
"We have got to be a bit better in the turnover and we've got to be that bit more clinical when it goes into the final third but we're developing all the time.
"We've only lost one of our last 10 games so that's not bad!"