Gers thoughts on a game of two halves

Naturally every manager would be sitting down and telling you that it was two points dropped than one gained after losing a goal in injury time, so there’s no doubt a feeling of deflation right now. However, from where we’ve been in the last few weeks we will take the point and move on. It gives us something to build on but the boys know internally it should’ve been a lot more.

In the first half they certainly played to instruction. We looked extremely composed and were rarely troubled. Our defensive lines were spot on and for me Macca (Luke MacLean) was always a constant threat with some clever runs in the final third. As he stretched the game this allowed plenty of success from the rotations behind him. Kivi (Kyle Kivlichan) takes his two goals extremely well, his second I’m not sure many would have the quality to produce what he does but he’s a lad that’s got that in his locker. We then probably could’ve taken a few more chances but we go in at half time where I felt we deserved to be.

As a manager it’s sometimes almost impossible to put your finger on things though. In the second half It was almost like we came out a different team without asking them to change anything. I knew Kieran would have his side fired up after the break but our response was disappointing. We knew the game was far from done but losing two goals when we are in the ascendancy and in control of the ball is hurting us week in week out.

The first comes from our own corner as we are high up the pitch and the second we are again in the attacking third with only a couple of minutes to go and we give possession up cheaply. It’s probably as naive as you’ll get and sadly for us these small margins are costing us. We’ve got a young team and I’m always conscious of checking myself to see where the line is between being too critical and just giving enough constructive criticism. Today for me it was down to our management of the game. In the tougher moments you sometimes need players that understand what the game needs at certain times. I felt we made too many poor decisions and because of this allowed Coldstream back into it. Again, it’s a tough learning curve for our group but we have to learn from these situations, it’s really that simple.

Overall, we have to concentrate on the positives from the first half but the demand is that we find more consistency in our game throughout the ninety minutes. You can see at points it’s there though and I’m confident these lads will step up and find that bit extra again when it matters most in games.