As manager Paul Simpson said after the game on Saturday, when a team gets a two-goal cushion it’s never going to be easy, and it tends to bring with it a post-match inquest into what could have been done to prevent it, particularly if the end result is a defeat.
“We all feel awful after a defeat, but we have to keep perspective at this early stage of the season,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world, but it’s really disappointing for us all to make the journey and to think we had an opportunity to get something out of the game against a team who are well fancied in the league.
“Man for man I think we’ve got as much if not more ability, but you have to battle as well and earn that right first.
“The quality in the final third was lacking at the weekend. We’re not making it happen, we just look as if we’re just searching for it at the moment.
“Maybe I have to look at myself and wonder whether I picked the right team. I couldn’t have picked Hunts at the start, I accept that, maybe I need to look at myself and wonder whether I picked the right team for that game.
“We knew it was going to be a tin hat job and unfortunately we didn’t put our tin hats on early enough.
“It’s really hard, if you start a game the way we did, it’s hard to turn it around. We had some little cameo moments where we had opportunities. Jack Armer had a chance at the far post, and Omari had a little run at it.
“There were a few little things we were close with, but being close isn’t enough. You’ve got to go the full way and finish things off. Sadly we didn’t and at two down it gives you a bit of a mountain to climb.
“We said that we were going to have to be really competitive in the first contact and be on our toes and alive for the second contact. We needed to have a bit about us and play the football when we had it, but for most of the first 45 minutes we didn’t do enough of that.
“We wasted the opportunities we had to play by forcing it and we didn’t compete properly when we were out of possession. One of the goals has come from us with two players stood, watching, trying to work out what to do.
“They’re really simple mistakes that we have to iron out. We gave ourselves a huge lift with the goal just before the break but sadly in the second half, apart from our huffing and puffing, we didn’t do enough to get anything from it. That’s disappointing for us all.
“I’ve always said that you will lose games, but now it’s on us to make sure it isn’t two on the trot.”
Click HERE to watch an interview with Paul Simpson on iFollow United now.
Click HERE to see a clip from this interview on our YouTube channel. Follow the same link for more FREE content right from the heart of the club.
