Manager Paul Doswell bemoaned some familiar away failings after Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Aldershot when he spoke to us after the game.
''I think if you've been to Wrexham, Gateshead or a number of other away games this season you'll know how the game at Aldershot went. We were by far the better side for just about all the first half, but they got a break on us following a corner, Will Puddy's made a good save initially and it was a good clearance from Nicky Bailey as well but Will's got in the way trying to get back and the ball's gone in - you couldn't make it up. The lads are very disappointed, but it was a good performance and it's important we take that in to Tuesday's game at Maidstone. We need to stay positive and bright, we know we need three wins from ten games and I've got every belief in the players that we'll do that and do it sooner rather than later, so although it's a disappointmenttoday we move on quickly to Tuesday.
It's seemed that every time we've signed a striker with an impressive scoring record at other clubs that the goals don't instantly come, and once you're in to game five or six you're keen to get off the mark quickly, so Adam Coombes will be disappointed one of the first half chances didn't go in, but I've got to say his overall performances have been excellent and he led the line very well at Aldershot. I can't fault him for his performance, and with the two wide players I thought our shape was very good, so I've got no real complaints apart from the lack of goals, and Kieron Cadogan had a great chance as well in the second half. Those things are beginning to hurt us, and I'm not sure how to change it. We keep bringing in different strikers and give people a chance, but ultimately we haven't scored enough goals and the statistics tell us that.
Nicky Bailey was at left back today because we wanted the energy of the three lads in midfield Eastmond, May and Gomis, which I thought worked very well. We knew they would go in with three midfielders and I thought we won that battle. Kevin Amankwaah's had a sore knee for a while now, and with the current Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday schedule we need to manage that, while Dan Spence has had a bruised foot which we've got to be careful with. Nicky can play right back, left back or midfield and I thought he was excellent today.
You only need to make substitutions if you haven't done well enough in the game in terms of goals, and if we'd taken our chances I don't think I'd have needed to make changes in the second half because the shape was excellent and everything else was good about the team performance, but we were chasing the game and so we needed to get Max on along with Adam and go 4-4-2, but you open yourselves up a bit more then, and the second goal came as we were going all out for the equaliser and was neither here nor there in the end.
We were excellent at Maidstone last season on that lovely run we were having, charging to the championship at the end of the season. I think there's going to be a massive crowd there, with the new stand being opened, and what a great opportunity for us to put the disappointment of Aldershot behind us and see if we can get a positive result.''