Following a 4-2 defeat against Lincoln City U18's, we caught up with Lead Professional Development Phase Coach Mark Birch.
Speaking to CUTV, he discussed his disappointment with the performance, gave an injury update on Zac Tonge and previewed the remainder of the season.
1. A disappointing performance in Lincolnshire
“I thought all round we were very poor today. I don't think we put any tempo in the game.
“We started the game very slowly and then struggled to get any momentum throughout the game.”
2. Zac Tonge’s injury
“He’s been on crutches; there was quite a heavy impact on his ankle.
“So, in the morning, we can assess it and see how it is.”
3. The impact of being down to ten men
“It was strange because we played some decent stuff, despite being a man down for a period.
“To concede straight after we went back to 11 vs 11 was frustrating.”
4. Conceding from a set play
“Tough to concede from a set-piece, especially a free kick.
“It looked as if it went through the wall, it’s something we will look at and analyse the root cause of why it happened. “
5. The defensive issues in the second half
“We were sloppy, gave the ball away too easily, and that's where a few of the goals came from.
“We got back in the game, and then you think, okay, let's kick on. We conceded a soft goal 20 seconds after the restart.”
6. Creating plenty of chances
“Even though we were losing for most of the match, we still created quite a lot of clear-cut chances, which was a bright spot of the game today.
“If we were able to convert them, we might have got a result.”
7. Keeping standards high
“What we’ve set in the first three quarters of the season must remain in place for the run-in.
“We’re going to have a reset over the next few days and hopefully come back stronger.”
8. The fitness of the squad
“It’s been frustrating; we’ve had a lot of long-term injuries this year.
“Now it’s about finding ways to hit the ground running for our remaining fixtures and hopefully getting a few players back into the team.”
9. The mentality of young players
“We’ve got a good squad, with loads of individual quality.
“As young people, it’s about not letting their heads drop in difficult moments like these.”
10. Bouncing back against Shrewsbury Town on Saturday
“We want to get playing as soon as possible, and hopefully, on Saturday, we can get the performance from out of our system.
“Let’s come back stronger.”
