Manager's Post Match Thoughts: Haringey Boro

"​I felt we deserved to win," said Manager James Bracken following the 1-0 loss at Haringey on the opening day of the season. "We’ve created four or five clear-cut chances throughout the game and their goal has come via an error at the back.

"I’ll be honest, I thought we looked every bit the side I want us to be. Another day, I back us to take those missed chances and we come out of here with a 4-1 win, raising some eyebrows.

"But we lost and we’ll need to come back and do better. That’ll never change. We’ll always look to improve on our last performance. We have a good squad. They're capable. I’d hold my hands up and say if they weren’t. It was solely a day where we didn’t take our chances, made one error and came away with no points.

"I’ll look at it as we’re a point down on where we should be, because we didn’t score. The error has only really cost us a draw. I won’t look at it as three points dropped but they were there to be taken.

"I’m not worried though. In the past, I might have been concerned if we had the players that could take those chances, or even creating those opportunities. We’ve lived off half-chances at times but now, I back the boys in the squad to only get better. We created chances, we were hard to create chances against and the more we play, the more we’ll gel. With a few new boys in the squad, it’ll soon become a well-oiled machine and we’ll see the results from that.

"There’s no pressure on the next game following that result. If we want to challenge for the league then there’s pressure on every single match, but that’s on us anyway. We won’t approach it any differently. I trust all of the boys in the squad to be able to get us results and we’ll take it three points at a time. We’ll look to put a run of form together as often as we can. Realistically, we’re not going to win the next fifteen games on the bounce but it’ll be nice to put some runs of four or five matches together, supplemented with a draw here and there. If we stay fit and healthy, there’s no reason why that’s not achievable.

“After one season in this league, we know what the level of physicality and intensity is required. We must pick a side that is up for the challenge. If we look back to our opening match last season at Margate we had a few boys in that game that weren’t ready for it. Against Haringey on Saturday, I knew each and every one of those players were ready. It’s an intense 90-minute battle for every point. Wins and draws should be celebrated. All sides have our respect because the level here is good. If your intensity is not up to scratch, you’ll lose no matter who you play. 

"We found those levels last season when we won six on the bounce and we’ll approach it in similar ways."