⚪️ ‘I don’t think we should have lost’, says Truro boss Wotton
Plus, Mousehole chief Ash bemoans away displays after Willand loss, Helston move further clear after Buckland triumph, and St Austell smash Liskeard to throw SWPL title race wide open
⬇️ In today’s newsletter ⬇️
⚪️ ‘I don’t think we should have lost’, says Truro boss Wotton
🟢 Mousehole chief Ash bemoans away displays after Willand loss
🔵 Helston move further clear after Buckland triumph
⚪️ St Austell smash Liskeard to throw SWPL title race wide open
🟠 Women: Marks scores five as Sticker stick ten past Bideford
Enjoy. 〓〓
⚪️ ‘I don’t think we should have lost’, says Truro boss Wotton
By Matt Friday at Bolitho Park
Boss Paul Wotton felt his Truro City side were unfortunate to lose their National League South encounter at home to Braintree Town on Saturday.
Owing to three successive postponements, City took to the Bolitho Park pitch for the first time since their 4-1 defeat at home to high-flying Worthing a fortnight earlier, but were undone by two goals in the space of six second-half minutes as the Essex outfit triumphed 2-1.
After a goalless first 45 minutes that yielded little in the way of goalmouth action, it was Iron substitute Jayden Davis’ fortuitous strike that broke the deadlock in the 65th minute.
Angelo Harrop’s side doubled their advantage soon after through Alfie Pavey, and while Rocky Neal managed to reduce the arrears with ten minutes to play, it was not enough to spare City from back-to-back defeats for the first time since November.
“[It’s] disappointing,” Wotton told trurocity.co.uk. “On a difficult surface, I thought in the first half we played the better football, created the best chance of the first half and we looked comfortable.
“I was disappointed with our second-half performance – with 25-30 minutes to go I thought we looked really leggy. It could be down to the fact we haven't played, but we’ve trained hard enough so that was a little bit concerning.
“The first goal… it’s very fortunate that Tom [Harrison] has kicked it against the lad who scored. It wasn’t his finish, it’s a deflected goal, but we’ve got to deal with that much, much better.
“I thought that affected us, the first goal, and we got a bit raggedy for five or ten minutes and they scored their second goal, and every goal is a poor goal to concede but that was poor.
“At 2-0 we looked beat and I didn’t like that. We made a couple of subs and we scored and we’re on the front foot and giving it a go, but I think Braintree managed the game well in the last five or six minutes and we lacked a bit of quality in the final third.
“Overall, I’m not saying for one second that I think we should have won the game, but I definitely don’t think we should have lost the game.
“I heard their manager say that was fully deserved but I’m not so sure, I disagree with that. They were very professional in the way they saw the game out, so I’ll give them credit for that, definitely.”
With both sides cancelling each other out in the second half, it felt like it would take a moment of brilliance or a moment of fortune to break the deadlock, and unfortunately for City, Braintree benefitted from the latter in the 65th minute.
Countering from a City free-kick, Iron forward Aaron Blair bore down on goal until being dispossessed by a fine Tom Harrison tackle, which cannoned into substitute Davis’ leg and flew into the bottom corner of James Hamon’s net.
That stroke of luck gave the Iron a lift and they were celebrating a second goal only six minutes later, with Davis crossing for Pavey to thunder a header past Hamon from six yards out.
“It was a lucky goal, but we should have dealt with it,” Wotton said. “We’ve cleared the ball, it’s hit him and it’s gone in. I don’t think the lad knew much about it. But you can’t let things affect you too much on the football pitch.
“I get it, you’re disappointed, but then we concede the second goal and that is an uphill battle against a team that is going to sit in and defend well, as they did. I thought they defended their 18-yard box very well and that’s where we didn’t quite have that extra little bit [of quality] today [to break them down].
“The surface is a lot to do with it, the fact we haven’t played for a long time had a lot to do with it, we’re a better team when we’re in our rhythm and playing games and got a bit of momentum going.”
City now have a rare full week off until Saturday's trip to Hampton & Richmond Borough, and with those postponements creating an increasingly busy fixture list in the latter stage of the season, Wotton is welcoming the opportunity to get onto the training pitch this week.
“We need to train, we need to keep going,” he said. “I think we’ve got 22 games in 71 days or something like that, so it’s going to be tough with a small squad. We’re going to have to try and get some bodies in.
“It’s fine margins today, I don’t think there was much between the teams at all. But listen, Braintree have come out on top and we haven't, so we're going to be disappointed and they’re going to be happy.”
🟢 Mousehole chief Ash bemoans away displays after Willand loss
By Pablo Woolls-Blanco at Silver Street
Mousehole manager Jake Ash says his side are ‘too easy to beat away from home’ after a 2-1 defeat to Willand Rovers at Silver Street.
Both sides entered the fixture on 27 points, sitting ninth and tenth place in the table respectively, but the home side Willand made amends for their hiding at Trungle Parc in October, picking up their seventh home win of the season.
Willand Rovers got themselves into the lead in the 17th minute when Douglas Camilo placed a shot into the bottom right corner. Ten minutes into the second half, top scorer Owen Howe doubled the home side’s advantage with a close-range header from a corner. With just seconds left to play, Jack Symons struck one back for Mousehole, but it was too little too late for the Seagulls on the road.
“Ultimately we have to look at the goals we’re conceding and they’re just not good enough”, Ash said. “You make life difficult going 1-0 down away from home again by conceding goals like that.
“I don’t mind if teams carve us open, but the goals haven’t come from that. We can talk a lot about being better on the ball which we need to be, but we need to be better at stopping goals, that’s the reality.
“We always set high standards no matter where we are. But it’s new to us — we’re finding our feet, and that’s okay. I’m okay with where we are, but I want us to be better and I think we know what we’re missing at the moment as a coaching group.
“The players have had a little chat about what they think needs to change. But we’ve done a lot of talking — we need to see it on the pitch.
“We have to accept that we’re too easy to beat away from home at the moment. We know at home we’ll cause teams problems, but we need to find a way as a group to be better away from home, because at the moment it’s just too easy.
“We will adapt and we will adjust and it might need a bit of a transition period. We have to plan from now till the end of the season, how we want the team to look at the start of next season.
“The players have to show that they want to be a part of that, and I know they do. So, we’ll review it as we always do and make sure that we come up with a plan to be better on the road.”
🔵 Helston move further clear after Buckland triumph
By Matt Friday
Helston Athletic’s grip on the Western League Premier Division got a little bit tighter at the weekend after Matt Cusack’s side earned their fourth league win on the bounce at Buckland Athletic.
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