The Pirates boss didn’t attend his post-match press conference that evening, but spoke to press on Thursday, exasperating at the trying start to the season.
‘It’s so frustrating, we feel we’ve been picked off, we go a goal behind and it’s difficult for the players to turn it around. We try to be positive but it’s difficult, the only ones who can get us out of it are ourselves, it’s back onto the front foot, we try and put it right on Saturday.
‘I had a long conversation with Nick [Higgs, chairman]. If you look at the history of the players I’ve brought to the club they’ve been successful, we’re trying desperately to do it here but we feel a lot has gone against us, that’s not an excuse, that’s a fact.
‘This week we’ve lost Stuart Campbell and Danny Woodards and we’ve not been able to replace [Wayne] Brown or Virgo due to finances. It’s a difficult time for the club but we’ve got to get through it, like I said, nobody’s died, we’ve got to get our heads up and get on with it.’
When asked what his side needed to do to change their luck he pin-pointed one key factor.
‘We have to try and get the first goal, we did that away after our success at home but we slipped up. It’s not like we’re being battered in games, we look at the stats and we have 18 attempts on goal and more corners. It’s not lack of effort; the players are giving me everything in training and in the games. We have got to try and get on the front foot, raise the ground and get a good atmosphere in the stadium.
‘It’s been chop and change, it was again on Tuesday, Woodards went off ill, and this week, again, the squad is depleted. We haven’t got the finances to bring anyone in but we have to get on with it, it’s not a major problem.
‘The confidence is still there, if you lose a game or two you take a strong look at yourself. Fifteen games into the season the players aren’t bad players, I’m not a bad manager after fifteen games. It’s a good football club; we’ve got to pull together from top to bottom.’
One key omission from Tuesday’s squad was Stuart Campbell, missing out through illness Buckle, however, confirmed rumours that his name had been circulated amongst other clubs.
‘I discussed Stuart Campbell’s future on Monday but we’ve not been able to agree. He fell ill on Tuesday morning which threw everything, if he was starting or on the bench it would have been a plus. In the end we had to play Rendell in the middle of the pitch because we are short on midfielders.
‘He’s part of the squad and like any player or member of staff that’s being paid by the football club we expect them to give their all. It was a horrible coincidence we lost him on Tuesday because we could have done with the leadership. We can’t agree a contract, Stuart has an advisor he uses and we got an email that said if we can’t agree a deal we would have to look elsewhere.’
Mustapha Carayol has found first team chances hard to come by in recent weeks, though upon his arrival from the bench against the Valiants he showed Buckle what he had been missing. His manager praised the performance and gave the winger a boost ahead of Saturday’s game against Dagenham.
‘That’s why I brought him to the club; Zebroski, Mustapha, Anyinsah, [have] lots of pace, that’s what we set up to do. Mustapha came on early in the game and showed what he can do, he was outstanding; he has to do that every time he gets the ball, pick the ball up and run at people. Now he’s got every chance of starting Saturday.’
Buckle stopped short of criticising his recent tactics, instead insisting that it was the basics his side needed to work on.
‘We scored five goals against Rotherham and created untold chances, we created again away at Burton; it’s the fundamentals we’ve got to do better. If you tell me that Port Vale and Burton peppered our goal you would be lying, that’s what makes it frustrating.
‘But that’s why were in the job, the highs and the lows, at the moment we’re suffering some lows, but the league table is not running away, we’ve got to remain positive and pull in the right direction.’
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