COGENHOE UTD 1
HOLBEACH UTD 0
Seb Hayes slammed Holbeach United’s performance as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at mid-table Cogenhoe United on Saturday and lost ground in the ChromaSport UCL Premier Division title race.
Sean McBride’s 18th-minute strike gave the Cooks all three points at Compton Park, with Holbeach offering very little as attacking force during the 90 minutes.
Although they’re still mathematically among the favourites to win the title, Hayes – who has seen a video of the game due to serving the final game of his stadium ban – insists that this performance proves he was right to rule them out of the running a few weeks ago.
“The performance wasn’t very good,” admitted the Tigers chief. “They weren’t prepared to try anything other than lumping the ball long.
“We played with no imagination and deserved to lose the match.
“It’s very easy for the lads to blame me not being there on the result and performance.
“As a manager, that reflects well on me personally as it seems the lads need me there to make a difference.
“But it also looks bad on me as people must think I’ve got a team that can’t handle the manager not being there.
“It’s hard to say anything too strong as we were always in the game at 1-0 down.
“But we just never looked like scoring all day.
“I know that people think I overreact after matches when I say things about our title chances.
“Yes, we’re in a great position mathematically. But people don’t know my team like I do.
“We’re just so badly out of form it’s unreal. Since we went to Yaxley and won, they’ve kicked on and so have the other sides at the top.
“But we’ve been so poor and something isn’t right.
“Scoring goals is a massive problem for us. A few weeks ago we’d scored a similar amount to the top sides – now we’re miles off.
“Our form absolutely stinks at the moment and we’re not in the title race at all.”
Holbeach’s season has seen them largely impress against the leading sides and they’ve also been ruthless against the strugglers.
But it’s teams placed between eighth and 15th – like Cogenhoe – that they’ve struggled against.
Hayes is infuriated by that stat and it has left him focusing on securing a top five finish and glory in the final of the Lincs FA Senior Trophy.
He added: “We keep falling down against mid-table sides, it’s infuriating.
“I did say before the game that Cogenhoe are better than mid-table, but the fact remains.
“When your record against the top sides is good, it’s hard to accept not performing against the others.
“It’s simple, we’re offering very little at the moment and the lads aren’t playing for each other.
“I’m not focusing on going for the title. All I’m thinking about now is helping the lads find some form ahead of the cup final and securing a top five finish in the league.
“Again, people can laugh at me. But I’m not going to come out after such rubbish performances and lie by saying we’re still in the race.
“Things need to change drastically for that to happen.”
Holbeach visit another mid-table side, Peterborough Northern Star, on Tuesday night (7.45pm).
Hayes will be back in the dugout for that one.
Tigers: Drury, Cartwright, Braithwaite, N Jackson, A Jackson, Smith, Tinkler (Barker 67), Avis (Bird 60), Zuerner (Sanders 46), Griffiths, Leckie.
Attendance: 60.
