I’M not a big film aficionado but one movie that really does it for me is Groundhog Day. Staring Bill Murray, the titular character gets stuck in an infinite loop, reliving the same day over and over again until he finds the true meaning of love. Well, after a stonking October, we now find ourselves in a similar position.

Every game, we seem to find ourselves in a similar predicament to Bill Murray’s character. Instead waking up every morning hearing Sonny and Cher’s 1965 classic ‘I Got You Babe’, we’re stood on the terrace waiting to see our opponents take the lead. Nine times in 12 home games the visitors have scored first. It has become annoyingly predicable and Saturday against Salford City was no different. We seemed to start the game waiting for Salford to do something before we could start to play ourselves. It was the same against Marine and Fylde.

All too often at home, the faint sound of cheering can be heard as our opponents take advantage of our charitable defending. I don’t mind if we concede the odd goal when we’re already well up or if we’re playing a weaker side that we will inevitably brush aside, but in key games against the sides with similar ambitions to ourselves, we make the going tougher by letting them take the lead.

There appears to be an issue with us defensively. I’m not sure whether it’s a lack of concentration, a lack of organisation or maybe it is the case that our defenders are not up to the standard required. There is certainly a question mark over our back four that needs addressing. Given that Ben Dudzinski has barely had to make a save in the two games he’s played and yet has had to pick the ball out of his net four times, I suspect the lack of concentration is the most likely answer, rapidly followed by a lack of organisation. Indeed, ahead of a Salford corner during the first half, there seemed to be a heated discussion amongst those in black and white over who should be marking who. Surely those decisions should be already made. The result was one of our shorter players marking an opponent substantially taller.

Aside from the sloppy goals conceded once again, we actually played quite well. We seemed to grow in to the game as the first half went on which made Mike Phenix’s goal in stoppage time just before the break a real hammer blow. Ultimately, the draw was a fair result. For all of the pressure that we put Salford under in the second half, we were wide open at the back and looked vulnerable to the counter attack. Fortunately, Salford didn’t create any major goalscoring opportunities.

It would have been nice if Mark Beck had collected the match ball with his late chance where heading it seemed like the more obvious option than an awkward volley but we can’t have too many complaints.

With us all desperate to see some progress in the FA Trophy, Tuesday’s replay at Marine will provide the perfect setting for the defence to show that they are up to the challenge. Stay strong, show better organisation and the chances are we’ll be off to Stockport on Saturday in the next round. If we hear the alarm clock tick around once again followed by Sonny and Cher, then our prospect of a trip to Edgeley Park and banking some much-needed prize money will diminish quickly.