Desborough Town 4
Holbeach United 0
Seb Hayes has accepted that things may get worse before they get better at Holbeach United following Saturday’s humbling ChromaSport UCL Premier Division defeat at Desborough Town.
The Tigers were drubbed 4-0 by hosts Ar Tarn at Waterworks Field, with Jake Bettles (12), ex-Tiger Jason Turner (66 and pen 73) and John Dean all on target.
It was the third defeat on the trot for Hayes, who had won his first two games in the job after replacing Tom Roberts In the Carter’s Park hotseat.
The ex-Peterborough Northern Star and Huntingdon Town boss admits that his side don’t do the basics right and is a little alarmed by the fragility they’ve shown in recent weeks.
That was again highlighted on Saturday, with the Tigers easily the best side for the first 45 minutes.
Ollie Pinner, Zak Munton and Matt Warfield all had presentable chances in a first half that Hayes felt Holbeach should have easily finished with a comfortable lead.
But, once Desborough notched their second, the new boss was alarmed by what he saw.
“We just don’t do the basics right,” admitted Hayes. “At the moment, we’re being punished for every chance we concede too.
“They must have had five chances on Saturday, but they scored four. We had seven or eight chances and didn’t score.
“I spoke to their manager and he agreed that we were by far the better side for 55 minutes. That’s great, but my problem is that we capitulated after their second goal.
“It was alarming and embarrassing to watch. I’m not in the business of naming names and that’s not what we’re going to do here, but we rolled over as a team.
“It’s not acceptable for a club of Holbeach’s size to throw the towel in like that. We had fans travelling to watch us and let them down badly.
“I’m not going to go overboard. Winning the first two games and not conceding a goal didn’t make me a great manager, so losing three on the trot doesn’t make me a bad one.
“I had people telling me that they’d like to see us playing good football. I’m sorry, but things are going to get worse before they get better here.
“We’re not looking to play great football yet. I want to see us not lose games, then start to win them again. It’s going to get ugly, but we need to find a bit of steel.
“I believe in my ability as a manager. The club have put no pressure on me this season, but I’m not willing to write the next few months off and wait until the summer to fix things.
“Myself, the management team and the players are going to work hard to fix things. But my attitude at the moment is to strip everything back and get the basics right.
“We need players fighting for the shirt, so I’ll look to get new faces in too.”
Tigers: Drury, Walton, N Jackson, Warfield, Tinkler, Pinner, Madigan (Shepherd), Dougill, Munton, Treacher, Eyett. Not used: Davies, Millinson.
- Attendance: 63.
