Hebburn Town suffered a 4-1 defeat at National League North rivals Merthyr Town on Saturday.

Hebburn Town FC manager Daniel Moore has called for his players to ‘stand up and be counted’ as they look to end a poor run of form - and he insisted he will do exactly the same.

The Hornets stretched their run without a win to a sixth league game when they fell to a defeat against Merthyr Town on Saturday afternoon and that has left Daniel Moore’s men sitting in the bottom half of the National League North table. The hosts took a narrow lead into half-time as Kieran Evans and Kane Simpson scored either side of an equaliser from on-loan Hartlepool United striker Josh Donaldson as he netted his fourth league goal of the season.

Hebburn Town midfielder Liam Murray fires at goal during the defeat at Merthyr Town (photo Tyler Lopes) | Tyler Lopes

placeholder image — Hebburn Town midfielder Liam Murray fires at goal during the defeat at Merthyr Town (photo Tyler Lopes) | Tyler Lopes

Hebburn remained in the game until the closing stages - but the Martyrs always looked the more likely of the two sides to secure the points and they took themselves out of sight when Ellis Watts and Morgan Wigley found the net inside the final five minutes of the game.

An FA Trophy second round tie with former Northern Premier League opponents Guiseley is next on the agenda for Hebburn - and Moore has warned his players they have ‘a really tough game’ but stressed he will do all he can to allow them to regain their belief.

He told the club website: “I know that there’ll be more of these results, more of these times when we are struggling for confidence or whatever it is. My job is to put the belief back in the players. It is what it is. We knew we were going to have spells and I’m not naive enough to think the season was going to be all happy, driving down to Wales and having a result. This division is not like that so I’ve said to the players it’s all about sticking together, getting back to what we are good at and what we are good at as individuals. We have a really tough game next week and the players have got to stand up and be counted for that. That’s me as well, I pick the team, I tell them what to do and that’s on me as much as the players.”

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