Castle hoping to strike it rich

3:46pm Wednesday 13th August 2008

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Steve Castle plans to “keep faith” with his mis-firing strikers but the St Albans City boss has revealed he will not hesitate to bring some old faces back to Clarence Park if the goal drought continues.

Castle saw his side boss games against title favourites Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday and much-fancied Worcester City on Monday, but City failed to translate their dominance into goals and finished the first week of the Blue Square South season with a solitary point and goal to their name.

Simon Martin got the season off to a dream start with a goal after just 61 seconds of Saturday’s match at Clarence Park but he, along with Paul Hakim and Hassan Sulaiman, have missed a host of chances since and Castle could be forgive for wondering where the next goal is coming from, particularly away from home.

City travel to Dorchester on Saturday seeking their first goal in five league matches on the road.

“I’m not pressing the panic button just yet,” said Castle. “If it keeps happened after half a dozen games then I’ll be making phone calls and you might see a few familiar faces come back. That might happen soon rather than later.

"If the forwards see another recognised striker on the bench then it might be the spark they needed. They need to know what is expected of them but I’m going to keep the faith and be positive.”

With Lee Clarke still sidelined with a back problem Castle has no option but to stick with Martin and Hakim on Saturday and is backing the duo to rediscover their touch in front of goal.

“People miss chances but they are not going to keep missing chances for ever,” he said. “They are natural goalscorers and this is just a blip or a barren spell. It’s only a matter of time before they start converting them. You don’t lose that natual instinct overnight.

“I’m not going to start digging them out as that’s counter productive and doesn’t do any good. There is no point kicking a dog when he’s down.

“I just tell them to keep getting in those positions as in training their finishing is different class. Goalscoring is the hardest job in football and that’s why people pay such big money for strikers.”