Barrow 1, Aldershot Town 0

POSITIVE Shots boss Danny Searle has vowed that his side are not heading to the English Riviera on Saturday simply to make up the numbers.

The Shots face a tricky trip to Plainmoor to play Torquay United in the first round of the FA Trophy, but Searle has seen enough of late to know that his side can get the job done and move a step closer to Wembley.

“One thing we have shown in the last four games is that we can’t fear anybody and we know we have the capabilities, out of possession or in possession, to do a job that will allow us to get results out of games, so we are going there to try to win the game,” he said, having seen his improving team lose by a single goal at National League leaders Barrow last Saturday.

“There will be none of this trying to bring them back to the EBB, we want to go there, win the game on Saturday and progress to the next round.

“We love a cup competition, although we are on a little bit of a roll in the league, but because of who we are playing it’s going to be like a league game anyway, you’ve just got to take the fixture and treat it no differently to any of the others.

“But it is nice that you can almost go all out and try to win the game. It’s not about getting an away point or making sure you don’t get beat, we can just go for the jugular and try to win the game on Saturday,” he continued.

And he added: “We wanted to do well in the FA Cup but let ourselves down in that one from a defensive perspective. We scored three goals away from home against a team that was the hardest team that we could have possibly drawn at that given moment in time and you think if you score three goals away from home that you are probably going to go through, but we defended so poorly.

“This is a chance to play at Wembley, and although we can’t make any promises because it’s a cup competition, we want to take it seriously. Who doesn’t want to do well in the trophy?”

Saturday’s narrow defeat after the long trip to Cumbria, when a John Rooney shot was deflected in by Dior Angus for the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute, was only Aldershot’s second defeat in seven games despite a tough schedule against the likes of Yeovil Town, Notts County, Harrogate, and the highflying Bluebirds.

“That’s credit to the boys, ” he said. “Everyone was obviously devastated with our performance at Dagenham but I think we have shown that is a freak result, that we’re better than that, we’re not a rollover sort of team.

“We have shown great resilience and character since then and we’ve played four of the bigger teams in the league in the sense of the size of the club and contenders for teams that could go up automatically. We’ve only lost one of those games, and by a narrow margin, and this squad is only going to get better.

“I’m not saying we won’t hit a wall again at some point because that is unfortunately what happens in the league, but it is progress, and we have always said we will continue to get better, but sometimes you have got to take the rough with the smooth.”

Searle has also snapped up the services of 25-year-old forward Craig Tanner, who was most recently playing Scottish Premiership football with Motherwell – and he’s excited by the prospect.

“You watch him in training and all the footage we’ve seen of him, people that I trust that have recommended him, he just brings an element of class. In my opinion, he’s a Football League player. When you see him on the ball, what he does and his movement, he’s exciting to watch.”