Neil McDonald On The Yeovil Defeat

Last updated : 10 February 2007 By Thetashkentterror

Blues manager Neil McDonald
United boss Neil McDonald spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Saturday evening as he gave his opinion on the 4-1 home loss to the Glovers. McDonald yet again talking about the need for the team to start taking their chances :


" I thought we totally dominated the first-half, and to go in 1-0 up at half-time was a just reward for our play really. We stopped them playing, I can't remember Keiren (Westwood) making a save to be fair, infact I can't remember Keiren making a save in the whole of the game. We've been mugged, defensively we were absolutely shocking in the second-half, absolutely shocking. To go from totally dominating and not letting them in the game to being wide open, I'm flabbergasted myself.

" We weren't one dimensional, we started off with 4-3-3 and created chances, then we went to 4-4-2 because the game got in a little bit of a rut. Still getting behind them, still getting through them, we've had a lot of quality free-kicks and corners today and nobody seems to want to have a split eye or a split nose to put their head on the ball and stick it in the back of the net. That is the most disappointing thing because when you are playing class teams, who have been in the top six all season, if you don't finish them off and they get half a sniff then they will punish you. To be fair, they've had four shots and we've been punished but our second-half performance was poor.

" I'm still a little bit flabbergasted from our first-half to our second-half performance to tell you the truth. It was a great goal from Joe Garner, he was on the move and that's why he scores, we ask forwards to be on the move inside the box and he is a goalscorer. They are all poor goals when you concede, we work very, very hard to try and keep a clean sheet and they never looked like scoring goals in the first-half. We'll be sitting down and analysing the video over the weekend, and then coming in to try and pick the bones out of the second-half performance, because I don't think I need to watch the first-half, the first-half was very, very good.

" I've let myself down really by talking about promotion, maybe I am getting above myself. The players with their first-half performance got a huge big pat on the back in the changing rooms at half-time, which they deserved fully. Then in the second-half we didn't work as hard as we had in the first-half, the chances came along and we've been punished. It is a huge learning curve and it's a very frustrating learning curve, but well down Yeovil for scoring four goals away from home, if you do that then you win the game. "



" Paul Murray came off just to put another forward on, we needed to get the ball forward to try something a little bit different which obviously didn't work. As I've said before we've conceded late goals and not given ourselves a chance to nick a point, and I think that's another example today. I thought he (Luke Joyce) was fantastic, really fantastic, I'm really chuffed with him. He's won the ball, he's passed the ball and he's done a fantastic job for us today, he was my man-of-the-match to be fair.

" That's the first time this season where we have been absolutely brilliant in the first-half and absolutely rubbish in the second-half. We have to put our finger on it and find out why, at the same time though we remain positive about where we are in the league. Yes, okay, we've just been beaten by a top six team and we've been punished. I've been saying that to the team and the supporters all season, if we don't finish teams off then we'll normally get punished.

" There is huge amount to learn from it, that you have to be patient when you are away from home, and you have to be patient even when you are 1-0 down. Keep on passing and moving the ball and then when you give to a striker or forward player then he sticks it in the back of the net and it gives everybody a lift. We've done that to teams a few times this season and we need to do it more, because when we are in a dominant position like we were in the first-half then we should never lose a game.

" The second-half was very, very poor and I'm certainly not making excuses. We worked our socks of in the first-half and probably didn't work our socks off as much as we needed to in the second-half, and that's why we've been beaten. Leyton Orient is another long trip for everybody, but we'll be ready for it. We're still in fine form but is concerning that when we do concede a couple, we do concede a couple, it's not just one or two. That's the third time we've conceded four goals but we're still in fine spirits and it's a huge lesson for everybody, including me. "