PICKERING Town boss Jimmy Reid is refusing to panic despite the club losing their opening two games in the Northern Counties East League premier division, writes Mark Smith.

The Pikes opened their campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Brighouse Town and then lost 1-0 at Retford on Tuesday.

Reid, whose side are away to Jarrow Roofing Boldon CA in the FA Cup extra preliminary round tomorrow, said: “It’s early on and it’s not the end of the world.

“We deserved results out of the two games.

“In the first game we played well enough to get a win. It could have been 4-1 to us at half-time.”

“A draw wouldn’t have been a bad result on Tuesday.

“We’re not too far away. If we can score a few goals it will improve the confidence of the team.”

Reid is optimistic ahead of the FA Cup tie, said: “The North-East teams are always good, but it’s worth £1,000 if we win and for a lower league team that’s brilliant.

“Our main target for the season is to improve on last year’s position in the league and get through a few rounds in the cups.”

The Pickering boss is expecting to make changes to his line-up, adding: “Russell Parker has been injured since the start of the season, so he won’t feature.

“Joe Danby’s away, but Ged Dalton is back, which is a boost.”

Selby Town travel to West Allotment Celtic in the extra preliminary round and manager Phil Jones is honest about their chances.

“They won 9-1 on Saturday and they use the facilities built for the Newcastle reserves,” he said. “It’s a great set-up, but if we play well anything could happen.”

The relegated Robins started life in division one with a 1-0 win over Rossington last weekend, before bowing out of the League Cup with a 2-1 round one defeat at Shirebrook.

Jones said: “There was a lot of hype after pre-season. The fans wanted us to start well because we’re a league lower.

“It’s a fresh start for us. We have a new team and a set-up that will hopefully bring success.

“It’s a building process for us. There’s no pressure from the board for us to achieve promotion.

“We have no money and that’s been well documented. But if we perform week in week out, then I’m sure the fans will start to trust in the team again.”

After a run of 12 games without a league win at the end of last season, new boss Jones was delighted to get off the mark at the first attempt, but he said: “A draw would have been a fair result. It was a pretty even game.”

Captain Tom Summers and Josh O’Neill both missed the Shirebrook defeat and they are also ruled out of tomorrow’s tie.

Tadcaster Albion , meanwhile, will be aiming to carry on their flying start to the campaign at Consett in the FA Cup.

The Brewers have won their opening two league games, beating Bridlington 2-1 last Saturday and Winterton 2-0 on Tuesday.

Scarborough Athletic are away to Spennymoor Town in the FA Cup extra preliminary round.

Knaresborough Town are at home to Askern Villa in division one of the Northern Counties East League – fresh from beating the same opponents 6-1 in a League Cup tie on Tuesday.

Harrogate Railway Athletic have their last pre-season friendly at home to Fields ahead of the Evo-Stik League division one north campaign.