Ossett United ready to ride out negativity after blank holiday with six first teamers missing

United failed to find the net in either game and went down 1-0 on Saturday followed by a heavier 4-0 setback in their first West Yorkshire derby of the season at Ponte.

Disappointed manager Grant Black believes the absence of several first team regulars proved crucial in the second of the holiday games once they had conceded the crucial first goal.

He said: “I don’t want to make excuses, but we’ve got six starters missing and we’re going to find it difficult – there isn’t a never ending pot of players that we can bring in.

"We have got to ride that one out as a group. We’re early into the season – it looks bad, 4-0 is negative and there’ll be lots of negativity and we accept that.

"But we’re still in the next round of the FA Cup, which is a big game for us as a club on Saturday. It will help us get that cup atmosphere. The Saturday-Tuesday games have stopped, which gives us a chance hopefully to get Burkey, Paddy and Kelan back in going into the next set of league games.

"There’s a lot more teams with a lot more things in their favour who are in a similar situation to us points-wise. We were level with Ponte before the game and they went up to eighth with the win.

"We’re not accepting it, but it looks worse than it is.”

Ossett host Marske United in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday.