JON Macken does not think he will have to rev his Radcliffe side up to beat Prescot Cables on Saturday.

A rare bad day at the office last weekend saw Boro beaten 4-3 at home by Mossley – a performance described as “worrying” by the manager.

Consecutive defeats mean Radcliffe have dropped to third in the table, Atherton Colls picking up the pace and going six points clear at the top.

Macken hopes his team got a wake-up call after letting points slip through their fingers against Mossley and will be looking more like themselves when they make the trip to Valerie Park this weekend.

“If the lads aren’t up for it after that performance I don’t know what kind of people they are,” Macken said. “I’m expecting a big reaction from them. It’s in their hands.

“I don’t know what happened, if I’m honest, I think once again the officials played a massive part in it. I think we had a crazy 15 minutes and it killed us, really.”

Macken was disappointed at a reaction from midfielder Rick Smith that earned him a red card in the 90th minute against Mossley. Moreover, he was left pondering a performance which was quite out of character.

“We dominated most of the first half,” he said. “We were a victim of our own success in the game because we were keeping the ball, controlling the game and then we just shot off. We allowed them back in the game and, to be fair, they scored some good goals and wanted it a little bit more than us, which is bitterly disappointing.

“As a group and as a team we’ve been fantastic in games this season and that’s one thing I can say, the desire and drive to go and win games, to see them out, has been fantastic.

“Teams are going to want to come and beat you, to knock you off your perch. But you are going to have to take it. Leaders and winners, that’s what they do. They still put in the performances week in, week out.

“We haven’t looked that undisciplined for many, many weeks and months. We’re creating our own issues at the moment, and that’s worrying."