IT was great to see more than 1,000 people back at St George’s Lane on Monday but it was just a shame we didn’t win.

The atmosphere was superb throughout the FA Cup replay against AFC Telford United.

When we went in at half-time having not played well and a goal down, everyone was backing us and they were still behind us at the end.

The game was thoroughly entertaining, maybe not enjoyable as we lost, but I hope people saw we played some good football.

In fact, we have been doing so for the last few weeks. Of course, it isn’t ‘total’ football, but it is not hoofball either — we mix it up.

We are not Premier League quality but the lads work hard for each other.

They are determined until the end and hopefully a few more of you will come back to watch us. My lads are working hard and we are probably not getting the results our performances deserve.

What we need is another striker.

I went to watch one player at Bristol Rovers reserves on the day of the Telford replay and there were four or five other clubs looking at him too.

Sadly, the player — Ben Hunt — got injured early in the match and I’m back working through my list.

I’m spending a lot of time on the phone as well as watching players and hopefully I can bring in one or two.

What pleases me the most at the moment is our defence.

We have three great centre-halves in Wayne Daniel, Mark Clyde and our captain Tom Kemp.

Having played all three together through pre-season, I thought we looked pretty solid so I stuck with it when the campaign started. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Maybe I was wrong but I’m playing two of the three now and they are looking superb.

After the warm-up for the Telford replay, Mark Clyde came to me and said he would be struggling with his knees had he started, which he was due to do.

To me, the timing of it was great. It meant I could bring in Wayne Daniel before kick-off instead and I think most clubs in our league would like him in their team.

On Saturday, we head to Hampton and Richmond and, after our second-half performance on Monday night and our last few games, it is a match I’m looking forward too.

We can’t afford to dwell on what might have been on Monday night. We had Telford on their last legs but, if we play like we have recently, then we should be alright.