Jarrow Roofing boss demands more passion from players

Jarrow Roofing (dark blue) in action against Harton and Westoe CW in a recent friendly on the all-weather pitch at Mortimor Community College.

Following a 5-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Durham City on Tuesday evening, Richie McLoughlin’s men hover just above the relegation zone on 26 points from 27 games.

Roofing are now without a win in seven matches and have shipped a mammoth 20 goals in their last five outings, conceding five against Durham, Shildon and North Shields.

This sort of form has led manager McLoughlin to call out some of his players on their poor performances and the boss expects a much better showing on Saturday.

“It’s no good calling for a battle cry because we only had a few of our players who performed against Durham,” he said.

“We were up against young, fairly lightweight boys, but who were stronger than a lot of our players.”

The stats make for grim reading for Roofing and their challenge tmorrow could not be much tougher, coming up against one of the division’s in-form sides.

A quick glance at the table suggests that West Auckland have not fared much better than Roofing this campaign – they currently lie in 15th place in the Northern League Division One table.

But their current standing belies the run of form that Andy Campbell’s men are currently on.

His side have won five of their last six league fixtures and currently lie in fourth position in the league’s form table.

McLoughlin is acutely aware of the threat that the visitors will bring and has called on his players to show more passion when they take to the field.

“West Auckland are a very good, and strong side who have battled their way up the league,” he continued.

“It may be a good idea to play me and Dava in the team.

“At least we will put a tackle in as it’s a man’s game and I think some of our players need to find some heart and work for the club and the team.”

Last time out Auckland beat Consett 2-1 thanks to goals from Shaun Hudson and Adam Burnicle and will bring a confident side to South Tyneside.

Anth Myers and Corey Barnes are set to return to what is almost a full Roofing squad.

The only absentee is Jamie Marshall, who is out through injury.

Kick off is at 3pm at the Boldon C.A. Sports Ground.