Bay manager Nick Gray remained upbeat after watching his side go down to a 3-0 defeat in their top four contest at Bishop Auckland on Saturday. “I’m proud of the lads. I thought we had a game plan and we stuck to it first half. They’ve given their all in the game. I cannot ask any more. First half we’ve been hit right at the end by a sucker punch. We couldn’t stop the cross coming in and they had a deflected goal so to be 1-0 down at half time was disappointing as I thought we’d done ok and I was quite happy with the first half. Second half I thought they were on top, they were the better side. They scored a second goal and that killed us if I’m being honest. After that they’ve game managed it really well and they’ve gone on and scored a third goal.
“I think if you look at where we are in the league, we’re having a decent season, but we know how short we are. If you look at the three who are above us at the present, their resources are far bigger than ours and they’re better squads than ours if I’m being honest. But going back 12 months, we’re in a much better place than we were 12 months ago. We’ve just got to live and learn from these I think. We’ve all got to learn from it, I’m learning and I know where we are short. I know what we’ve got to do.. but there’s more positives than negatives.
“They’re the top three at present but we’ve got nine games and 27 points to play for and a semi final. We’ve got a hell of a lot to play for and the lads know that. If you look at the three teams that at present are above us you’ve just got to be honest and open sometimes. There’s a number of reasons why they are there. We’ve done really well to be in the mix with them to be fair and certainly what we’ll be doing is give our all for the rest of the season. I know what we need to do as a club on the pitch, but also off the pitch, to help us out and help us get better.
“No disrespect to us as a squad but if you look at their bench today there’s a huge difference, so listen, we’re proud of what we’ve done this season. In the next ten games we need to see how much it means to the players, how much they want to be here next year. We’re disappointed today but I’ve got to reflect on the whole picture and trust us, I do know what we need to do. I don’t shirk responsibility.
“We’ve got two home games now, so we’ve got an opportunity to bounce back after today. We’ll have to see where we are squad wise. We haven’t got huge resources, we’ve been missing Scott Lowery who was away to day and Cameron Brewis who’s injured and no disrespect to the lads, we’ve got a lot of young ones. Bailey (Geliher) didn’t come on today because he’s had three games for England this week and he’s obviously tired. We’ve got to look after them.”
