Ardley Has Defensive Issues

Manager Neal Ardley has said that our defensive display in the loss to Oxford United, more than took the gloss off our late rally against the promotion chasers which almost secured us a share of the points on the day.

The manager was speaking to the Official Site following the two one defeat, when he talked of his ‘grave disappointment’ as to how we conceded the goals earlier in the game and he admitted that we ultimately paid the price was switching off at key moments and we were punished for it.

‘I have got that feeling of grave disappointment because I could not fault the players for most of the game. I asked them to win their battles and to win both boxes against a strong Oxford team and we did all of that.’

Ardley goes no to say that we limited them to almost no chances at all across the full 90 minutes of the match, but for two moments of daftness, we found ourselves two nil behind.

‘It was disappointing because all of a sudden we were chasing the game.’

Unfortunately for the manager that is the overriding feeling even when he tries to look at the positives from the game, but maybe that will abate with time, but certainly after the match the fact we matched them for large parts of the game, created more and better chances, and almost got ourselves into it with how we responded in the second half especially, are scant enjoyment for the gaffer in the hours immediately following the game.

‘We won two games last week, but I did not feel that we played well. I thought we played quite well today on a difficult pitch, but I cannot take anything from it because we have lost.’

With an upcoming home game against Rochdale, Ardley and no doubt the players themselves will be looking for a better return when it comes to points compared to their efforts on a day, but if you switch off, you will get punished and whilst no player does it deliberately, it’s cost us what could ultimately be a very important point as the season progresses.