Ahead of Saturday’s league match at Leighton Town, manager Tim Flowers has looked at the opposition and the squad. He starts with reflections on Tuesday night’s match…
I was frustrated after the Stratford game – and that’s certainly not in an arrogant manner, as I thought Stratford deserved a point, certainly in the second half. In the first half, other than the first minute when they hit the post, we had them pinned in and we were basically creating chances and not converting them. I thought we were miles in the ascendancy – the second half started similarly, there was the sending off and then, to be fair to them, they counter attacked us and the biggest frustration for me was that, for all the experience we had on the pitch, we couldn’t deal with it and get through to the end of the game with a 2-1 win or better.
We allowed the game to swing both ways and it was just ridiculous the way we carried on – I just didn’t get it at all. Having said that, Stratford are a team that were talking about winning the league in pre-season and were looking like a top-five nailed on team, so we’ve done well to get a point in fairness. I listen to everything that is said and all the words and rhetoric that were there – they look like they’re getting fitter and more organised now – but it is what it is, maybe it’s a good point or a bad point for us; who knows?
We go to Leighton Town, who have had a big change around in the last couple of weeks. They’ve got a new manager and new players coming in left, right and centre, so I’m not too sure what to expect tomorrow. We’ve done our homework as much as we can but there will be changes – I listened to their manager after a very impressive point at Needham on Tuesday and he was suggesting there may be others in the building by the time they play us.
Our away record is there to be shot at – in the league, we haven’t been beat yet and we know it’s going to be a tough game. It doesn’t matter who you play – whether they’re top five, bottom five, in the middle looking to go forward – whoever you play, it’s always a tough game.
We go there stretched to the absolute limits. I haven’t managed to get anybody in for the weekend but I have tried a couple of good players and, all of a sudden, they want too much money. I’ve tried a loan who is required for under-21 games at the moment so that’s where we’re at. We’re absolutely bare bones but I’ve still got massive confidence in a group of players, who have been awesome for this football club – to have lost just one game in the league thus far is a pretty good effort.
We have to make sure we go down there, focus and get our job done.
