by Alex Hoad

Simon Halsey criticised his players during his pre-match preparations on Saturday in a bid to provoke the response which earned the fine win over promotion-chasing Crawley Down.

The Bay boss passed on the comments of some supporters in the wake of the dour goalless draw with rock-bottom Three Bridges three days earlier to his players before kick-off in a bid to "turn negatives into a positive."

Halsey (pictured) said: "We did some soul-searching in the changing room before the game. I tried to use some negatives to get a positive out of them.

"It infuriated me and I told the players all the things that people were saying about them before the Crawley Down game. I told them that people were saying they were ‘gutless’ and they looked like they were going through the motions. It certainly got the desired response."

Halsey revealed he had also looked at his own part in Bay’s struggles in the build-up to their first home win since November 10 – a run of seven games during which they have scored just one goal.

Halsey admitted: "I don’t think I’ve done enough myself during all this. The fact that we’ve not been able to train and our preparations have been affected – I should not have let it affect us.

"I should have done more, I have got to be better myself."

Young Gillingham keeper Luke Nalder has been brought in on loan as cover for the injured Rob French (heel) and his deputy Luke Prentice (quad strain) ahead of Saturday’s trip to Walton & Hersham.