Bay manager Nick Gray gave what he described as a ‘brutally honest’ assessment of his team’s performance after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by high flying Newton Aycliffe.
“It was very difficult today. After the high of last week it was disappointing to concede so early in the game which put us on the back foot. Since I’ve been here, to be fair I think that’s the best team we’ve played. The second goal was naivety, not standing in front of the free kick. They’ve been more streetwise than us. At half time I spoke to them about even if we get beat 4 or 5 nil I’d rather at least try and get on the ball and make things happen and move it around. I though in the first half not enough people were doing their jobs. In the second half I thought we started well but then conceded a third goal, and at 3-0 it was game over and you could see the confidence sap out of them, so a disappointing result. We defended with naivety, in midfield we’re not creating a lot, the forwards were not looking like scoring and that’s being brutally honest. It’s tough to take but we need to try and find a couple of wins.”
Whitley created just two good chances, Adam Shanks early in the first half then Kevin Mirzakhanian soon after half time. “You can talk about what if.... Kevin had a good run and half a chance that went just wide. It could have been 2-1 but two minutes later they score and it’s game over. In a team that hasn’t won many games, confidence is one of the big things and we’re struggling with that. We’ve just got to be braver in possession; I think people are frightened to get on the ball and try and express themselves. Whether they can do it or not is another matter but we need to be better in every department. We’ve just got to keep on working at it and believe that we’ll win games and I’m confident we’ll get a couple of wins before the end of the season.”
