Whitley conceded a late goal to go down 4-3 at Boro Rangers on Saturday and after the game manager Liam McIvor was clearly frustrated with what he said was a habit of gifting teams goals.
“It was a good game for the neutral I suppose, but I thought we were the better team. We moved the ball much better. We’ve just got to defend better as a team and that’s probably what killed it today.”
Whitley went in front thanks to a penalty from Lewis Suddick. “I thought we were going to kick on after the penalty but then we’ve conceded a poor penalty. We’ve given the ref the chance to even it up. We need to defend better as a team. We concede too many poor goals, not just here today but at other games it’s something that however many we score always seem to concede.
“At 3-1 down it’s hard but the lads battled back and at 3-3, I thought we were going to go on and win.”
Speaking about the crucial last goal that decided the game he said “It was a bad goal to give away if I’m honest. We’ve got to be tougher, no one else seems to gift us goals but we’re gifting teams goals.”
Lewis Ritson, signed just a week ago made his debut and Liam commented “It’s seven weeks since he last played. He’s done well and we need to give him more minutes. He just needs to find his feet and he’ll get better and stronger the more he plays.”
Jos Storr came off the bench to score two goals and the manager was pleased with his performance. “Jos has done well. He scored two when he came on and that’s all you can ask of your subs, to make an impact at 3-1 down, so yes the subs have done well when they came on.
“When we got it back to 3-3, I really thought there was only going to be one winner but you can’t gift teams goals the way we do. But it’s a bad habit we’ve been in all season if I’m honest not just the last few weeks.”
Bailey Geliher was back in the squad after injury and he too impressed the boss. “Bailey looked very sharp and hopefully we’ve got him back in now regularly after his injuries.”
Meanwhile Whitley do have one longer term injury. “Scott (Lowery) has an Achilles injury. We thought he’d recovered but it’s not cleared up properly so he’s going to be out for a few weeks.”
