John Ward On The Yeovil Defeat

Last updated : 13 October 2007 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Saturday afternoon as he talked about the disappointing 2-1 defeat at Yeovil, Ward mentioning the poor defending from the Blues after they had taken the lead in the game :


" I'm sure you've used the same words that I'm about to use in terms of the result of the game - frustrating, annoying, disappointing, all those little bits and pieces. Not generally with the performance though, it's just with the concession of free-kicks around our penalty box. Not just the two that they scored from but there was one inbetween that as well.

" We'd talked prior to the game about staying on your feet, there are two teams that pass and move and shift the ball quite quickly, and if you dive in to people then you run the risk of giving free-kicks away. Particularly around your penalty area, it's not something that you want to do. The annoying fact is that we've done pretty well over 90 minutes not to get unlocked in free play and we've offered them two free efforts around our goal. We've paid the ultimate price for that unfortunately.

" We planned for the free-kicks, we've got signs and notices up on the wall in the dressing room, we talked to the players about picking up and jobs to do. Sometimes it gets done better than others or sometimes they get away from you, it happens. Today that is the frustrating part, it's easy to say this now but another five or ten minutes holding on to the 1-0 lead. The ground was extremely quiet, the home support had gone quite probably from half-time really and we could have made a grab for the game maybe with a second goal.

" Obviously we didn't though and weren't able to hold on, about three or four minutes I think it was after our goal the equaliser came. We've got to hold on to those leads a little bit longer and make sure that we stamp our authority back on the match. Whether it's a little lack of concentration, excitement at the goal or whatever but it's something that I need to pick up on with the boys. "



" I think you can look into all sorts of things about why you've lost the game, maybe if we'd won the game or drawn the game we wouldn't be talking about that. I think you've got to be careful if you look for too many problems, there are not a lot of problems in this team and in this football club. You've got to go with those when we've lost a game as we have today.

" We've contributed a great deal I think to an open game of football and we've got a good passing ethic in the football club. We work very hard, we found another goal, we needed to find another one obviously but there is some construction in the team that is worth working on. I just think that we've gone to sleep a wee bit on the two set-plays and that is something that disappoints me greatly.

" Even with the defeat the players have pulled together on the pitch at the end as they do when they have won a couple, and the supporters have stayed and there is a nice affiliation between the two. I think that's really good, we recognise how far they have travelled to be here today and how much they have put in to their support of the football team.

" I think they have seen the same today, they are feeling the same as me, use of any of those three words. It's disappointing but they know there has been no lack of effort or work or quality from the team at times. We can't do it all the time, we're not going to dominate every game for 90 minutes, we just haven't stayed with the game as long as we would have liked to. Like I say, another ten minutes after going ahead would have been good for us but we couldn't do it.

" We looked at Joe (Anyinsah), he hadn't trained properly with the team from the game on Tuesday, he came down and trained yesterday with the ballwork that we did down at Yeovil and he had no ill-effects on that. We had to really establish a team and a shape before we probably knew about Joe, we said that he could be a good substitute for us whatever. We couldn't plan our team on Joe being fit and then suddenly not having him there and not having a plan B. "



" We went with plan A, we thought that it did OK, Jeff Smith has got a couple of stitches in his ankle, those have already been put in there. There are little war wounds in there but the team shaped up OK, although we didn't want to concede midfield supremacy to Yeovil and we didn't do that. He (Peter Murphy) is fine, he's not mentioned anything after the game to any of us so hopefully he is alright.

" I need to speak to Greg (Abbott) and Dennis (Booth) about next week, it might be ideal to give them a breather, we've got to discuss which way we are going to do that with these boys. They've had a heck of a lot of football prior to me coming as well. So we'll check that out on which is the best way to go, they've got used to me now I think in terms of my methods, what I want and what I am after.

" We'll sort out which way I go, I probably don't want to be on that training ground all day every day because we've got a big game to win next Saturday and I want them pretty fresh. They've had a lot of travelling and a lot of work to do and we'll freshen them up and get them ready for next week. Hopefully we'll have a big crowd backing them as well.

" Drawing Stockport is a home game which is terrific for us, because everywhere we get is a long travel so any home draw in a cup competition is good. No complacency from me as you well now, we worked hard against Chester and we'll work hard against Stockport but it's nice to be at home.

" I think that I've got a good team, I saw that in defeat today, I've got some good players and some good people. I don't think that today has changed my view or opinion of people in there in the fact that we've not won the game. We've had an opportunity on 87 or 88 minutes where there is a ball gone across the box and we're still working at trying to do that. They're OK, they're just very disappointed because they want to do so well. It's a very tight knit group of people and you have to be that in defeat as well as winning. "