Magpies looking for a ruthlessness in front of goal, says boss Andy Preece

As it is, the Magpies are handily placed in ninth spot, just four points adrift of leaders Tamworth.

Preece has been pleased with the way his side have performed at both ends of the pitch.

Their defensive record is the third best in the league, it’s the ‘goals for’ column which needs a slight improvement.

Out of the top half of the table, only 12th-placed Banbury United have scored fewer goals and Preece admits that is something he has been addressing on the training pitch.

"Definitely we need to improve that aspect,” said Preece. “Defensively, we have been very good, but it’s not like we are a defensive team.

"We have not been sitting back and hitting teams on the counter, we have taken the games to teams and played some good stuff.

"But we have got to have that end product. We will keep working on it and it will come. We will get better and we have been talking to the players.

"Giving them little ideas about when they do get in good positions, what their options are and working on those in training.”

This weekend, they head to Gloucester City, who have sacked manager Tim Flowers and replaced him with Mike Cook. The Tigers have only picked up one win this season and find themselves in the bottom four.

"They have got a new manager so obviously that gives them a little bit of freshness,” said Preece.

"They have had a little bit of a break for a couple of weeks so he will have been able to put his stamp on things.

"Gloucester got into the play-offs last year so we know what a difficult place it is to go to.”