'No excuses, just go again' attitude for Bulls ahead of fourth game in eight days

George Munday at Alfreton

Aaron Downes says Hereford must “roll their sleeves up and get on with it” as they head to Macclesfield less than 48 hours after their draining defeat at Alfreton Town.

The Bulls are in the middle of a relentless run of fixtures, with Saturday’s trip their fourth game in eight days, but the Hereford boss is refusing to use fatigue as an excuse.

"We've got to get on with it," he said after Thursday's 2-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Alfreton.

"I'm a person who believes if you look for excuses, you'll find them."

He added: "That's not us. We've not done that since I've been in here and the boys have been great and they're still great. There's improvements we can make, especially from that first half an hour, 45 minutes, but you can see that they're a willing group.

"And again, I'll return back to it, I'll get them going, make sure Saturday we go up there and be competitive and that's all we can ask."

Downes insisted mindset will be key heading into another tough test.

"It's a lot of fixtures, but we knew that coming into it," he said. "We've just got to make sure roll our sleeves up and get on with it.

"Alfreton tonight are the same as us, they played Saturday, they played Tuesday, played tonight, and they put a lot of effort into the first half an hour and they got the rewards.

"They were tired at the end and we had the momentum, the impetus, but we've got to think positively going into the game because if we keep giving ourselves excuses, we'll find them."

Hereford showed that spirit in the second half at Alfreton, dominating large spells and pushing hard for an equaliser, and Downes wants to see that same aggression from the outset at Moss Rose.

“We’re going to be aggressive again,” he said. “That’s for you to decide, but it’s on me to make sure I don’t give you the chance to ask questions about momentum.”

Despite back-to-back defeats, the manager is keen to keep perspective, pointing to the strong run that has lifted the Bulls back into contention for survival.

Asked whether the back-to-back defeats against Fylde and Alfreton, off the back of three wins, had hampered momentum, Downes said: "No, it tos and fros.

"We've had a great run up until Tuesday night and it's my role to make sure that we keep the positivity and turn it around.

"But we're going to be aggressive again going up Saturday. That's for you to decide and me to make sure that I don't give you the opportunity to ask me that question."