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The manager and the striker
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Margate manager Iain O’Connell has endured a real baptism of fire as his side have now lost two home games by the same 0-3 margin. There are excuses that the manager could make but he refuses to do so and will focus on putting the errors right that are costing the side crucial points in the fight to avoid the drop.
Iain pulled no punches when describing the context for the defeat: “pretty awful” and “disgraceful” were how he described the defending that led to two of the three Waltham Abbey goals.
“We probably had about 70% of the possession but the only one that troubled their keeper was Jay Saunders with a few headers. Apart from that, we were pretty ineffective in the last third.”
There has been a big turnover of players in a short period of time at Hartsdown Park but the manager refuses to use that as an excuse for two consecutive defeats and the Waltham Abbey result particularly. “I think the boys did give 100%, but you still have a bit of quality there (but it wasn’t evident).”
Iain bemoaned the lack of anticipation at the back and Margate not winning second balls in both penalty boxes.
“They’ve scored two goals from winning the second ball which we couldn’t do,” he said. “It’s the same in their box. We don’t seem to win that second ball. Jay Saunders has put two headers back across the goal and there’s just no one there. You know he’s going to win the ball but we just don’t anticipate and don’t get on the end of it.”
In summary, he said: “In both boxes today, we were poor.”
The raft of postponements earlier in the season is having an affect now on the amount of time the manager can spend with the players on the training pitch, given the number of mid-week games.
However, he also points to the players belief in their own ability; something that each Margate manager this season has spoken about. “They’ve got to start believing in themselves. I don’t think there’s any belief in there.
“It’s a dog fight and we’ve just got to win. It’s a simple as that” he said.
For new signing James Pinnock, it was a return to a very different Margate team to the one he left two years ago.
Notwithstanding the club’s current league position, Gate’s newest striker said: “I’m pleased to be back. I had a great two years down here; I really like the club.”
Having left Maidstone and found that Margate was interested in signing him, he said: “I was also interested (in signing). But the debut didn’t go too well.”
Reflecting on the Waltham Abbey game Pinns admitted that: “It’s difficult to come in at this stage of the season; for the manager as well. We’ve only got 13 games left.
”Today was a big game. We needed the three points really which we haven’t got, but we’ve got to go again on Tuesday. The only way is up – literally. We’ve got nothing to lose now so we’ve just to try and play and try and enjoy it and try and score some goals.”
Looking at this season’s Premier Division, Pinns reflected on how closely packed the teams are throughout the table. “It’s close down there. This league, especially this year, everyone can beat everyone.
“You can’t give up yet. As long as there’s points to play for, we can’t give up because we can still get ourselves out of this.”
CLICK HERE to listen to the full interview with Iain.
CLICK HERE to listen to the full interview with Pinns. |
07 Mar 2010 by Steve Wells
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