Newark Town manager Luke Parsons going back to basics in bid to revive United Counties League play-off push

Luke Parsons intends to go back to basics to give Newark Town the best chance of making the play-offs.

The Blues dropped out of the top five for the first time in months after drawing 2-2 with Deeping Rangers on Saturday.

They conceded the equaliser from the final kick of the game after keeper Jake West gave away a penalty following a rush of blood.

It was their fourth successive draw, including three against sides struggling at the bottom end of United Counties League Premier Division North.

They then shipped three first-half goals in a 4-0 reverse on the road at Ashby Ivanhoe on Tuesday.

Newark have made a habit of conceding bad goals in recent weeks and boss Parsons wants it to stop.

“Every mistake we make, or every bad decision we make, we seem to get punished,” said Parsons, who takes his side to Gresley Rovers this Saturday (3pm).

“We had it at the start of the season where the goals we conceded were all our own fault.

“We finally cut that out and went on a good run and, although we’ve not been losing games, it’s still our errors that we’re conceding goals off.

“I can’t remember the last time a team properly carved us open. It’s individual errors costing us.

“The draws are feeling like losses.

“Maybe we’ve got to strip it back and go back to basics and not over-complicate how we want to play.

“We just need to do the basics for a couple of games and get going again.

“Every team has these moments but it seems with us, we do tend to concede the same goals. It’s getting out of that rut.

“At the moment it’s looking like we need to score three goals to win a game, which is worrying.

“But things can turn quickly, moods change.

“It’s amazing with football how much a win can change things and how much momentum is key.

“If you look at it, the lads’ confidence is probably low but we’ve not been losing (before Tuesday), so we’ve still got to take the positives.

“What we have to do is kill games off.

“When you’re playing any team, but even more so down the bottom, if you don’t do that, they still have hope and there’s a chance they might create or something or you might make a mistake.

“Teams will jump on that. Deeping probably thought they’ve drawn 2-2 with Kimberley and Wisbech, we can get something, and it meant they kept going to the end.

“When you drop points, people aren’t as confident as they once were but the biggest thing we’ve got is our dressing room and once we have that win, it’ll get us going again.”

Matteo Perkins’ early goal against Deeping was swiftly cancelled out.

Ryan Rusden restored the lead midway through the second half but Newark were denied at the death.