Cowan urges Brackley to 'kick on again' ahead of tough Halifax clash

The Saints had been enjoying a good run of form of their own before suffering back-to-back defeats during the past week.

They lost 1-0 at Solihull Moors last Saturday and were beaten 2-0 at home by Wealdstone last night.

And now Cowan is looking for a big reaction from his players as they head north to take on a Halifax side who have won each of their past four National League matches.

"There's not been too many times in my tenure that we've had back-to-back defeats and it's something we're really disappointed with," Cowan said.

"We've really got to drive the energy now - that's what's really important.

"We've got to drive the energy through the group - and they've got to do it as well.

"There's a little bit of sulking going on from a bit of a talking-to on Saturday, which is disappointing.

"They need to know that we need to be resilient, we need to bounce back and they need to bring the energy.

"We've not been at our best in the two games, but we've still been in the games and it's not like we can say 'we shouldn't be at this level' or 'we've had a flukey start'.

"We just need to bring the energy and the positivity we've had in previous games and understand it's not the end of the world.

"I wasn't getting too excited when we were doing really well two games ago and I'm certainly not getting too down now.

"But the players need to now be accountable, start being a lot more clinical and approaching the games a lot better, like we have been against Sutton, against Truro, Rochdale and the others.

"We've had a positive start to the season and we need to kick on again now so it's up to the players.

"We'll prepare like we normally do and we know it's going to be a really tough game because Halifax have won their last four games.

"But this is what we're at this level for and what would we rather - that we'd not got promoted?

"We will come good again without a doubt and these players are frothing at the mouth now to get to Saturday."

Brackley are now 15th in the National League standings, having won four, drawn four and lost four of their 12 games this season.

The Wednesday night defeat to Wealdstone was particularly disappointing for Cowan and Co, who had hoped to bounce back from the loss at Solihull last weekend.

And the Brackley boss said: "We were very disappointed to lose 2-0.

"It was a really poor start from us, we struggled to get out of the traps and they were particularly slick.

"They were really care-free, very brave in possession and they were fitter, faster, stronger than us.

"We said 37 minutes was the time we really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and up until that point, we really looked like we were chasing shadows somewhat.

"We felt like things we right tactically, we wouldn't have changed anything but we couldn't get near them.

"They were really brave, they came, saw the pitch and they had nothing to lose really.

"They hadn't won in four or five games so credit to them because they came and really hit the ground running.

"We were really on the back foot, which is not like us.

"To not really lay a glove on the game up to 37 minutes is not good enough from us, but we had some good moments before half-time and went in 1-0 down.

"To come out and be 2-0 down after 30 seconds is just focus and concentration, something the players need to know is a minimum requirement for us.

"We grew into the game, had seven or eight big moments in the second half, had a couple of chances that hit the post and we could have made it really interesting.

"How we said the game was going to go was how it did go in the second half, we were much more in it but it was the final pass, the final detail.

"Our quality wasn't there and that's unlike us.

"We need to be better."