MAGPIES’ boss Craig Laird has said that some of his players aren’t taking their opportunities to impress. The comments come after the Magpies were out-fought in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to high-flying Merthyr Town.

He said: “You can see why they’re where they are. They have good experienced players, players who’ve played at a higher level and players who’ve played at this level for a long time, whereas we’ve got a young side who are trying to get to that level of experience.

“When you’re playing teams around you, it’s easy to look like a nice neat side but when you play a top team they show all your weaknesses and they become obvious.

“We went out with a positive attitude and tried to take the game to them. We tried to get the ball wide and play with a bit of tempo but you can’t do that for 90 minutes.”

Speaking of where his side need to improve, Laird said: “We lack pace and that’s something I’m trying to resolve. I keep giving players a chance to impress, some are grabbing it and some are not. I know we’ve played against the two top sides but you can see when players are struggling. The players who went off didn’t perform, but it was lovely to be able to bring on some players who could come on and affect the game.”

He continued: “If I had more subs I’d have brought another one or two off as well.”

Laird also confirmed he is looking to add more signings, with the aim of bringing in two or three new faces before this week’s game with Leamington.