Toolstation NCEL Division One
Chris Bolder said a formation change helped North Ferriby return to winning ways.
The fallen leaders narrowly beat FC Humber United on Bank Holiday Monday to curtail three games without a victory and Bolder says the tactical switches worked.
“We changed the system a little bit,” Bolder told Non League Yorkshire.
“Although we have had a strong start to the season we fallen off a little bit in the last couple of games so we felt like we looked a little flat.
“We decided to tweak it and go with a front two.
“We usually play a front-three with a number nine and two wider players.
“So we went more centrally down the middle and I thought first half on a difficult surface we played some good stuff and we had good attacking numbers going forward.
“Second half we had to change it back a little bit because we fatigued a little bit and they took control of the middle of the park.
“We put a bit of experience on and I think we managed to see the game out really well.”
Ferriby had gone 21 games unbeaten until the defeats to Brigg Town and Hall Road Rangers and Bolder says they considered two options when preparing for Humber.
“I don’t think we pressed the panic button as such,” he said.
“I just think sometimes when you are in a bit of a rut if you’re not prepared to change something then sometimes (the rut) can continue.
“We had to look and say ‘do we change personnel’?
“‘Do we tweak the system slightly’?
“When we come to pitches that are more challenging than our own pitch we may have to have more bodies in a more forward position.
“That’s what we did (at Humber) and ultimately we got the three points.”
Although the formation was the main change at Humber, Bolder did admit his players were told to step it up again.
“We had a really good chat after the Hall Road game and we trained on New Year’s Day morning,” he said.
“We said before that all sport is hugely down to the confidence of an individual because no-one turns into a bad player overnight.
“All of a sudden we haven’t accrued a bad player into the team.
“The confidence can ultimately affect the technique and decision-making and that’s what we were seeing.
“We were seeing players who we know are very competent doing crazy things.
“That’s what happens when you are in a sticky situation and confidence is low.
“We asked for a response from certain players and I think we got a really good response (against Humber).
“People questioned whether we had been outworked by Hall Road.
“I don’t know whether we were outworked, we were probably a little bit laboured to get back into our shape which is what we addressed at training.
“I think if you look at it overall (after the Humber win) the players were determined to do the job for the team.”
Ferriby host Retford FC this afternoon.