Mike Williamson says there is no room for complacency this weekend as his Gateshead side host Chorley at Gateshead International Stadium.
The Heed welcome The Magpies in the opening home fixture of 2022 on Saturday looking for a reaction on the back of a derby defeat at Blyth Spartans last Sunday.
“You want a reaction from every game,” he said.
“You want to improve every week and no matter what happens we want to continue that.
“The fact that [Blyth] was a difficult result to stomach doesn’t change anything, we want a reaction and it has to be positive.
“There’s no room for complacency or feeling sorry for ourselves and the boys know that because we know how good Chorley are, they’re up there for a reason.
“They’ve got an experienced group of players, and some very good players as well, so we know we have to be at our very best to win and that’s down to us.”
Chorley travel to Tyneside with the chance to take The Heed’s spot in second place in the Vanarama National League North should they win, while Williamson’s men could move top of the table with a win should Brackley fail to beat Hereford.
The player-manager is under no illusions as to the task at hand on Saturday however, adding: “Chorley are very disciplined, they’ve got strong, robust players and they’ve got a game plan – you can see a clear identity.
“The wingers play inverted, they want to pick up second balls and they’ve got players who can play as well.
“We’ve got a game plan and a way we want to approach the game and we always feel it’s down to us in any game.”
There is both good and bad news on the injury front for Gateshead this weekend with Dan Ward missing out while Greg Olley looks set to return to the match day squad.
“Wardy is going to be missing for a while, he’s picked up a hamstring injury,” Williamson added.
“Danny [Greenfield] is getting closer and Greg [Olley] will be involved, though we’ll have to see how the game pans out as to in what capacity that is.”
