ST NEOTS Town manager Dennis Greene has challenged his team to get their shooting boots on after the Saints dropped their first points of the season.

UCL Premier Division

St Neots Town 1-1 Peterborough Northern Star

ST NEOTS Town manager Dennis Greene has challenged his team to get their shooting boots on after the Saints dropped their first points this season.

Peterborough Northern Star equalised with the last kick of the game, but the game was characterised by the home side’s inability to finish their chances rather than bad luck at the timing of the equaliser.

Greene said he would go back to the 4-4-2 system that served Neots well last season to try to cure the goal shortage.

He said: “Our finishing let us down again – we created chance upon chance, but we just couldn’t put the ball away.

“The players just need to have a bit more confidence in front of goal, shoot more, and take responsibility. There were times when we tried to walk it into the net: I want the players to show some belief in themselves.”

Greene said the switch to 4-4-2 had been prompted by the personnel now at his disposal. Former Wycombe striker Roy Essandoh played on Saturday after signing from Bishop’s Stortford in midweek, and ex-Peterborough United frontman Shane Tolley made his debut in the second half.

“When we started the season, we went 4-5-1 as we had a lot of quality midfield players that suited the style. Now we have options up front we can go back to having two up more often.

“We’ve already done that this season, and it’s worked, but the plan was always to be adaptable.

“Roy needs some games, but I think he could form a good partnership with Shane and be a bit of a handful.”

Neots went ahead after seven minutes on Saturday when Essandoh nodded down a Rob Hughes cross for Lewis Hilliard to round the keeper and prod home. But they could not find a second, and Dan Jacob, Rob Hughes and Lee Bassett all passed up golden opportunities to win the game.

The final move of the match saw PNS win a corner, and Karl Gibbs rose at the far post to plant a header past Saints keeper Luke McShane.

Greene added: “To be fair to Peterborough, they worked very hard. They are a side on a high after their promotion last year, and they worked for each other.

“We know that every team that comes to play us will be up for the game, because otherwise they will get beaten. We needed to take our chances, because if we’d gone two goals ahead I think they would have given up.”