United rallied in the second half against Newport on Tuesday night and, having pegged a goal back through the in-form Omari Patrick, could actually have gone on to nick a point had luck been on their side.
“I said there’d probably be a bump or two and unfortunately it’s come against a good side who have been consistent all season,” manager Paul Simpson told us. “It’s disappointing, obviously, but there’s no need to get screwed up about it.
“We’ve had a brilliant run, really good results, we just went away from it a little bit early on in the game, particularly in the first half.
“We went away from what we have been doing but I thought we finished the game really strongly. The disappointing aspect is that we had to go two down to get the reaction that made us be a bit more on the front foot and more positive.”
“Looking at the four games before that, it’s been a really good start for us,” he added. “We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance, but we’ve just got to keep going.
“The next one is the biggie now, it was always going to be in the local derby against Barrow, and you have to get yourselves up for these games.
“It was an opportunity on Tuesday for other players, we had a couple of changes we had to make and a couple I chose to make. You can’t knock anybody, it was just one of those games where it didn’t happen for us.”
Always a disappointment for any manager or coach is to see his team concede from a set piece.
“I was really disappointed with the first goal because I thought we’d been really well disciplined and organised in those situations prior to that,” he agreed. “We showed the players what they might do, with Demetriou getting across that near post, and that’s exactly what he did do.
“The players all know their jobs, but they’ve then got to do their jobs. We did have an idea about what they would do because it’s one of their threats.
“We felt as though we had a bit of a height advantage, we looked as though we were a good size. The players knew their jobs but if you don’t quite react that fraction of a second at the right time, you get done by it. That’s what happened to us.
“It’s all a big learning experience for the players out there when things like that happen and they’ve just got to get it out of their system.
“We had chances where we could have possibly nicked something. The second goal was horrible, because we gave the ball away and we didn’t make a sprint of a recovery run, and we conceded from it.
“From there you’ve got a mountain to climb. And that’s why I’m disappointed that we have to go two goals down to get ta reaction.
“The second goal was a real body blow to us because I thought in the second half we tried to get the players to be a bit more forward thinking. It was too much backwards and sideways and waiting for things to happen, instead of getting on with it and making things happen.
“We had some scrambles, but it didn’t quite fall to us, as it has done over recent weeks, and sometimes you make your own bits of luck. If you’re on the front foot maybe things do drop for you, but that didn’t happen for us here.
“Maybe this was just one game too many in this little run we had, but we go again. We have to try to take the finish of the game into the start at Barrow at the weekend.”
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