After the Brightlingsea Regent match, Manager James Bracken had these words...
The red card changed the game for sure. With eleven men, we should’ve been 3-0 up. We were that much better than them. They were getting nowhere near us but we should’ve been more clinical and had this done by half time.
In the second half, we were still the more dangerous team even with 10 men. Okay, they’ve put some balls in the box, had little spells of two or three crosses in a row, but we’ve countered them and looked like scoring ourselves.
Of course, the sending off has influenced the game because with eleven men, there would’ve only been one winner.
Having watched back the incident on video it’s never, ever a red card. Neither the referee or assistant has seen it and it’s 100% cost us.
We have a lot of technically gifted players and perhaps sometimes, they feel that when they get the ball, they’ve got to do something special before they shoot. What they need to realise is sometimes the technically gifted players behind them have already done that bit. They’ve got them into the position where they should be setting themselves with one touch, hitting the target with pace and accuracy and finishing the move off.
We seem to want to have another touch, beat another player and tee-up the perfect goal. It’s not going to work like that. We need to pull the trigger more. Get some saves out of the keeper. Score the follow-up and get the tap-ins. At the moment, we have too many players who do too much.
We weren’t helped by having eight players missing – and that’s not even touching the goalkeeper situation. When you think we missed Max Oldham, Danny Cunningham, Gabby Odunaike, they’re probably three of our better forwards. Then you’ve also got Josh Uzun who’s been consistently one of the top goalscorers over the past three seasons and Reyon Dillon who’s still out injured. That’s five forwards who’d take the touch and get the shot off in the same positions I’m referring to.
But I’m not going to take anything away from the performance again. They did well and worked their socks off. They adapted well in the second half. We were still a threat whilst soaking up some pressure and made it hard for the opposition. But we need to shoot more.
I’m only disappointed with the amount of points we have. I’m not disappointed with anything else. Yes, we’ve had some tough lessons to learn. Apart from the first half against Margate, we’ve been more than competitive at this level. But we can’t be happy with what we’ve put on the points table.
We’ll always try our best to get through in all competitions and try to put a trophy in the cabinet and get as far as we can in the FA Cup which is important to the club as a whole.
Sadly, it seems at the moment we can’t get our teeth into the league. Brightlingsea was a big game and we should be coming away with three points with that monkey off our back. As it happens, we go into these cup games, still without a win in the league.
As I say, I can’t be disappointed with the performances or the fitness levels. The chances we’re creating are fine. At the back, we’re looking solid. I’ve got no problem with it but it’s disappointing that we don’t have the points we deserve. Realistically, we should have seven points, with a game in hand, and that would be a fair reflection of where we’re at. We need to ensure we keep the mentality right and keep the confidence high because we’re not far away. Once we get that one win, we’ll go and start winning multiple games in a row.
The red card changed the game for sure. With eleven men, we should’ve been 3-0 up. We were that much better than them. They were getting nowhere near us but we should’ve been more clinical and had this done by half time.
In the second half, we were still the more dangerous team even with 10 men. Okay, they’ve put some balls in the box, had little spells of two or three crosses in a row, but we’ve countered them and looked like scoring ourselves.
Of course, the sending off has influenced the game because with eleven men, there would’ve only been one winner.
Having watched back the incident on video it’s never, ever a red card. Neither the referee or assistant has seen it and it’s 100% cost us.
We have a lot of technically gifted players and perhaps sometimes, they feel that when they get the ball, they’ve got to do something special before they shoot. What they need to realise is sometimes the technically gifted players behind them have already done that bit. They’ve got them into the position where they should be setting themselves with one touch, hitting the target with pace and accuracy and finishing the move off.
We seem to want to have another touch, beat another player and tee-up the perfect goal. It’s not going to work like that. We need to pull the trigger more. Get some saves out of the keeper. Score the follow-up and get the tap-ins. At the moment, we have too many players who do too much.
We weren’t helped by having eight players missing – and that’s not even touching the goalkeeper situation. When you think we missed Max Oldham, Danny Cunningham, Gabby Odunaike, they’re probably three of our better forwards. Then you’ve also got Josh Uzun who’s been consistently one of the top goalscorers over the past three seasons and Reyon Dillon who’s still out injured. That’s five forwards who’d take the touch and get the shot off in the same positions I’m referring to.
But I’m not going to take anything away from the performance again. They did well and worked their socks off. They adapted well in the second half. We were still a threat whilst soaking up some pressure and made it hard for the opposition. But we need to shoot more.
I’m only disappointed with the amount of points we have. I’m not disappointed with anything else. Yes, we’ve had some tough lessons to learn. Apart from the first half against Margate, we’ve been more than competitive at this level. But we can’t be happy with what we’ve put on the points table.
We’ll always try our best to get through in all competitions and try to put a trophy in the cabinet and get as far as we can in the FA Cup which is important to the club as a whole.
Sadly, it seems at the moment we can’t get our teeth into the league. Brightlingsea was a big game and we should be coming away with three points with that monkey off our back. As it happens, we go into these cup games, still without a win in the league.
As I say, I can’t be disappointed with the performances or the fitness levels. The chances we’re creating are fine. At the back, we’re looking solid. I’ve got no problem with it but it’s disappointing that we don’t have the points we deserve. Realistically, we should have seven points, with a game in hand, and that would be a fair reflection of where we’re at. We need to ensure we keep the mentality right and keep the confidence high because we’re not far away. Once we get that one win, we’ll go and start winning multiple games in a row.
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