Lions lacking ruthless edge and end product
TONY VANCE played down the significance of a third straight loss and asked fans not to get ‘too hooked up about it’.
But, he insists, his young side need to be a bit more ruthless when they are on top, as they were in the first half of the 3-0 defeat at East Grinstead.
‘First half, we were very strong.
‘For 30-35 minutes we controlled the game, played some fantastic football and we had them defending in their half, our centre-halves were sort of beyond the halfway line so it showed a sort of dominance we had of the football. But the only thing missing was the end product.
‘We were trying to, perhaps, score the perfect goal so obviously credit to them for being resolute with their defending, but perhaps we should have been a little more ruthless with our opportunities.’
East Grinstead had shown their qualities in pushing Bostik Premier side AFC Hornchurch in the FA Cup the previous Saturday and Vance said they are better than their league position suggested.
‘It’s a midweek game and East Grinstead are in a false position and anybody that thinks they’re going to be down that area, judging by that performance I don’t think they will be.
‘They’re a dangerous side – they’ve got a lot of pace – and to be fair, first half it was a decent game of football with both halves trying to play. Second half it went horribly wrong [for us].
‘We were on the back end of what we’d say were some disappointing decisions – two deflected goals in the first sort of 10 minutes, but they came out the traps well to be honest.
‘I actually said before the game that nil-nil wouldn’t be a bad result away from home with only 12 [outfield] players, but they caught us cold and two deflected goals and we’re in trouble and then, after that, it got a bit messy.’
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