Silkmen boss was still confined to barracks yesterday after missing Saturday's home draw with Accrington Stanley. But that had not stopped him watching the game on DVD several times as he looked forward to returning to work.

First up how are you feeling?

I am feeling a lot better thanks. As daft as it sounds I've been suffering with hiccoughs for the past week or so. I thought nothing of it at first but when it persisted I spoke with the doctor and they felt it best, given what happened to be a few years back that I have a few days rest at home.

I am sure it's purely precautionary and I am looking forward to getting back to work and help prepare for the game at Bournemouth of Saturday.

What did you make of the Accrington game?

Well nothing beats being there in person but I arranged for a copy of the video to be sent over and I've watched it a couple of times. I thought were perhaps a bit slow to get started but as the game wore on we looked the more likely to score and were perhaps unlucky not to pick up the three points.

That seems to be a common theme this season?

It does and it clearly is something we have to address. We're not scoring as many goals as we should which doesn't help. But on the flip side we have made ourselves very difficult to beat. We've drawn twelve times so far this season and only lost ten games, which is less than all the times around us in the table. But they've also won more so that's why we find ourselves where we are.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that we need to convert more of those drawn games into wins. We need to be more ruthless in front of goal and convert the chances when they come along. It was unfortunate Ricky Sappleton was out injured. Craig Lindfield's chance early on in the second half was a typical example. He'd made a great run to beat the offside trap and whilst credit to the keeper for standing tall, he knows he should have buried that one.

And what of Emile's mazy run?

Emile has taken a lot of stick this year but that's the sort of thing he is capable of. It would have been a wonder goal. But he knows he needs to do it more often.

Has confidence been affected?

I don't think so, certainly no during the week. But whilst early on in the season we passed the ball around really well we've not managed to maintain that standard in recent weeks.

Why do you think that is the case?

It's a combination of the pitches we are playing on, which have all suffered as a result of the recent weather. But also I think it's down to pressure. The longer a game goes without a goal, players have a tendency to look long. That's human nature I suppose. You want that ball in the danger zone. It certainly works for the likes of Stoke but they've got better players on the receiving end. We need to strike a balance and remember how we played early on in the season and try and rediscover a bit of that form.

And what of Richard Butcher?

Given he's not played for a while I thought he had two good games. But I expected that and as he gets fitter I would expect him to have more of an influence. He's a box to box player and has the habit of getting in the right place at the right time.