VINCE Overson has set a clear 'No More Mr Nice Guy' New Year resolution for his Ramsbottom United players.
The manager is looking for his side to toughen up as they prepare for their first North West Counties Division One game in more than a month at Glossop North End tomorrow.
"We are a bit too nice at the moment," said Overson. "Technically we are very good and good going forward, but I think we need a bit more bite in the team.
"If one or two players can give a bit more of that it becomes infectious."
Overson is certainly looking for Ramsbottom to up their game from Tuesday night, when they were dumped out of the Lancashire FA Marsden Trophy on their own ground by Nelson.
The 3-2 defeat was the Rams' first game since December 13 because of holiday period postponements, but Overson was still disappointed with the performance.
He said: "We should be beating teams like Nelson, but in all fairness, it looked as though we hadn't played for a few weeks.
"We didn't have that sharpness. The heads and hearts were willing but the legs weren't and we ran out of steam.
"But I would liked to have seen a little bit more commitment. When we got tired we gave in a little bit and I wasn't happy, but Nelson deserved it."
Even a friendly with Overson's former club Padiham, arranged between Christmas and New Year, was called off because the astroturf at Gawthorpe was frozen.
It summed up a frustrating December for United, who haven't played since they went out of the FA Vase at Gedling Town.
Since then their scheduled league games with Clitheroe on December 20, Bacup Borough on Boxing Day and Saturday's visit to Atherton LR have all fallen foul of the weather.
Overson added: "We really need to be ticking over, but we had a two-hour training session last Saturday to help the players get back into it."
Overson has injury worries over Gareth Gardner, who pulled a hamstring against Nelson, while Luke Hardman and Jordan Rispin both missed the game and are likely to be out at Glossop. Chris Clarke is suspended.
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