Badshot Lea manager Gavin Smith post-Southall
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00:00 Gavin, 2-0 defeat against Southall, thoughts on the performance today?
00:05 We're disappointed if I'm honest. I didn't think we turned up first half at all. A lot of boys dwelling on the ball, getting caught, getting robbed, which when you play this and this up well, they obviously got a plan and just swarmed us when we had the ball but boys were taking too much time on it.
00:25 It's disappointing we were asking them to move the ball quicker. It's always hard to tell whether it's because they did really well or we just weren't good enough. I didn't feel we turned up first half. We had a little bit of a go second half, had a lot of territory, a lot of possession, couldn't do anything with it.
00:42 And got done with a goal where I don't feel we put it in to attract the runner, if I'm honest, which is all the desire. They showed the desire to defend, wanted a clean sheet, wanted to win games of football, no different to Chertsey.
00:57 They didn't have to do anything special to win the game, they just docked it out and showed the quality when it was needed. We're disappointed with our forward boys, especially first half. Didn't think they turned up, gave the ball away a lot, couldn't beat their men. Maybe their defenders are just better than what they used to come up against.
01:16 I'm not so sure because I've seen them dive in and score against every other team just today. Didn't happen one of them days, like I say, second half. Had a bit of a go but still didn't really test the keeper. One thing we had to call on them, they probably defended it well again, put their bodies in front of people and did the basics of football better than we did.
01:37 What did you say at half time?
01:47 I said that Vic's good, they need to listen to him more. They always seem to respond at half time to something that happens. But ultimately it's their decision making when they go out there. Their speed of thought, what they want to do. Maybe they were more tired in the second half, maybe. I don't know. I didn't think they looked that fit, if I'm honest, but they beat us convincingly.
02:09 So it puts into question what we're doing. We've shown the qualities throughout the season but today just didn't happen.
02:18 Is it maybe those teams that are up there, is it just that sort of ruthlessness in the box?
02:23 It's just that. They're streetwise. We're quite a young group, I don't want to make excuses, but we are quite young. They've got a few leaders out there who maybe pull everyone through. We haven't quite got that. We want to play football. It doesn't always work. It definitely didn't work today and it hasn't worked against Chelsea.
02:40 So it's something we need to think about really. Maybe another way in those games, can we do something different?
02:50 Freshened it up with Dwayne and Kai coming on?
02:53 Yeah, felt that Babs didn't look himself in midfield. Kai's good at getting the ball on a half-turn, thought he might be able to drive forward a little bit, get on the ball. Again, just didn't quite happen. I think the thing really came off and it's the final quality in the final third.
03:11 Busy period now, isn't it? Binfield Tuesday, 11th of February.
03:16 Yeah, Binfield Tuesday and I think we've got to rearrange the Guildford Cup game which might be Wednesday or next Monday depending on what we can get because we'll have to get 3G because we can't play on here three games in a row.
03:28 So it's going to be busy. Now, the disappointing thing is that you're taking players out of the team to put fresh legs out rather than dropping them for their performances, if I'm honest.
03:40 So, I said to them at half-time, if it was Saturday to Saturday, some of them would be losing their place because they haven't done enough. Maybe they know that.
03:49 There's a lot of games, we're going to mix it up anyway. Do I need to put it in? I'll be back in the game after. They'd soon be disappointed if they weren't starting on Tuesday, then they weren't starting the Saturday after.
03:59 So, it is a tough time. You can never... don't really know what to... you can overthink it. Ultimately, today we just weren't good enough.
04:10 And the message heading into Binfield, just reaction?
04:13 They've won 5-0 Binfield today. The difference, we played Corinthian Casuals last week, I didn't see any fight in Corinthian Casuals, if I'm honest.
04:21 They just let the game go by and we won quite easily and probably could have stepped it up a little bit, probably played in second gear.
04:27 But Tuesday, Binfield are really determined to get themselves out of the situation they're in. They've beat Chips, they're just above them, 5-0.
04:35 So, they've added some players, they've got some more quality in and it's going to be really difficult.
04:41 So, the boys are going to have to be up for another test. A team that are really, really going for it.
04:47 Which is good, you don't want mid-table games where you're... it's a bit of nothing. Southall had to win today to stay in the play-offs.
04:55 We've got a lot of them games, to be fair. We've got Westfield, we've got Churchill, Levered, all teams that are hand-worth filler. Tough games.
05:04 Thanks.