Aidy Boothroyd Talks About The Game

Last updated : 14 March 2010 By Thetashkentterror
Aidy Boothroyd
Colchester boss Aidy Boothroyd spoke to BBC Radio Essex after his side's 2-1 defeat at Brunton Park, Boothroyd blaming his own players for taking their foot off the pedal after going 1-0 up against ten men :


" I am very disappointed, probably one of the most disappointing games I have had since I have been here. For the simple reason that we had a lot of people come to support us, they came a very long way and we had a tough game today. We got a break, they had a man (Tom Taiwo) sent off, we played very well I thought in the first-half without scoring. In the second-half we managed to get back in the game and for the last 25 minutes of the game I think we took it too lightly.

" We allowed them to get back in the game, we allowed the crowd to get back up, we were just very, very average. Getting promotion isn't easy, you have got to make sure that you are consistent in what you do and today we weren't consistent. I have got absolutely no idea how with the quality of player at my disposal that we concede two goals to ten men having gone 1-0 up.

" Now thankfully I am a sensible person and I will have a look at it and watch the game again, but my gut feeling was that we thought it was too easy. We thought we had gone 1-0 up and that was it, OK, we will take the three points and go home. But nobody gives you anything, nobody gives you anything, and we have to make sure that we learn that lesson very quickly. Because I am not particularly happy about it.

" It is just schoolboy stuff, it really is, when you go 1-0 up against ten men you win, you win the game and everybody knows that. Everybody knows what their jobs are, we talked about it at half-time, we make sure we have eleven men on the pitch, we stay disciplined and we keep doing what works. A few changes had to be made because Ashley (Vincent) started to tire, he has not played very much and he had to come off.

" I was worried about Ian Henderson getting sent off, I had to take him off. But we are still 1-0 up with half an hour to play, it is game over. But we didn't help ourselves to get back into it, and we got back into the mess and therefore we leave with nothing. We have got a very long journey and we have got nothing to show for it. I am disappointed for the supporters and I am disappointed for the players as well because they are a lot better than that. "



" We have played against Jason Price against Oldham and we know what he is and we know what he is like, he is a handful. But in the first-half I thought our two (Matt Heath and Magnus Okuonghae) dominated him and then in the second-half that didn't happen. They started to come into the game, they had nothing to lose, and to come from 1-0 down to win 2-1 with ten men, their manager (Greg Abbott) will talk about character and how great they are. Well they are not really because we gave them it, it is as simple as that.

" We weren't professional, we were amateur in what we did and that is being disrespectful to amateurs, that was really, really bad. The good thing is that we can talk about it and learn from it, but there is too much talking, we have got to start doing. We haven't got here because we are a fluke side, we have got here because we are a good side and that is not acceptable for where we are at.

" I have to review this now first, I have to reflect on it and make sure that come tomorrow we know where we go, what direction we take and how we get the best out of a horrible situation. The sending off gave them belief but I thought we worked against us today, I thought we took our foot off the pedal. I will give credit to teams but I think we made a choice to give them an opportunity to score.

" We gave them the choice to allow their crowd to get going, we gave them the choice to get involved in it. Rather than shutting them down, shutting up the shop, doing what we know works. The balls were coming into the box, crosses were coming in, but we had nobody on the end of them.

" So we are not going to score unless we get that, and people will say that Clive Platt had a really good chance to make it 2-2 but I don't like conceding goals. We have not conceded a lot of goals and the reason we haven't is because we are very, very organised. But that was all about taking our foot off the pedal and that game was all about us just thinking we had it won, and we didn't. "