Match Report

An abysmal defeat and an all time managerial low point to bring our season to a brand new depth of under achievement.

We lined up against bottom of the league, and without a point - Addeyans, arrogantly expecting just to turn up to win. Surely our mere presence and the fact that we had showed up guarantees us the points? Of course f*cking not, but that’s what we were thinking.

In short, a shocking first half display brought on this terrible defeat as we were not in the right frame of mind from the start, teamed with lack of personnel due to last minute blow outs. Nobody hit tackles, nobody grafted, nobody sweated, nobody put themselves out for the cause. It was all ‘somebody else’s’ job with no responsibility of our own. A couple of disastrous refereeing decisions did not help, including a blatant penalty which was near on assault as opposed to a foul, but that is besides the point. Key personnel blowing out at the last minute reducing us to 12 also did not help matters whatsoever, especially when Sam Small was unable to continue from as early as the 15th minute as well as Dave Harrigan in the 40th minute. This involved using members of the management team that had not played for a number of years. How can a team who at the beginning of the season were in contention for promotion, travel to play a league game with 12 players? It’s a disgrace and simply not acceptable. Selections this week will reflect my disappointment towards the situation.

To be fair, Addeyans did start with the strongest side they have put out this season and had quite a few subs on the line, but this should not have prevented us from taking all 3 points. They fancied this one and deserved the points. Good luck to them.

It''s games like this where you really do question your own abilities as a manager and wonder if all the effort that I put in is worthwhile. I simply am not getting back any of the effort and commitment that I put in. Only 7 players at training on Wednesday reflects the current attitude towards football at the minute and the seeds were sown for this loss. We seem to want to play for the sake of playing but not playing for the sake of winning. Surely winning is more enjoyable? Some of us are simply going through the motions and don’t seem to give a f*ck – win, lose or draw.

I shall now not be taking training this week and for future weeks unless at least 11 first teamers can make it. It will be up to the players as a collective unit (TEAM) to get together and decide what they are going to do with regards to training, as I have had enough. Training with me will resume when the team decides what it wants to do. In the short term, Des will take training along with whoever else wants to take the helm so please continue to turn up if you so wish.

This week we have Phoenix and we need to put this sh*tty run behind us and work really hard. We have the fitness, ability and personnel; all we need is a bit of added commitment, effort and confidence. We will be the underdog in this fixture so there is no pressure on us and it’s our chance to bounce back and get a good cup run going. We need to get the spirit going again and start to want to fight, win and motivate each other. We will go back to basics this week and I also have a change in personnel to try and liven things up. Have a good think about Saturday''s game and use the disappointment of the performance as the reason to fuel a fire for Saturday and turn up with a winning attitude.