Manager Paul Simpson spoke to us after the defeat against Leyton Orient.
“I thought we started bright enough and pressed ok which is where our goal came from,” he said. “Their second goal just before half time has absolutely knocked the stuffing out of us.
“My view is that it’s a clear foul on Ben Barclay, and the truth is if it isn’t a foul then I think it’s a penalty because it looks like he hand balls it when he goes to ground. It’s a clear foul, and to go in 2-1 down at half time when we probably didn’t deserve to is a bit unfair.”
“The third goal is a really poor goal to give away,” he continued. “We probably have to be a bit nastier and give a free kick away on the half way line and take Archibald out. That’s what they did really well, they had a bit more nouse about them and they knew how to manage the game better than we did.
“In the end they deserved to win the game, we can’t complain about that. We’ve got to be a bit more streetwise and learn to do the things that they’ve done that have kept them with a foothold in the game. We’re disappointed, we knew this was always going to be a tough game but the truth of it is we’re in serious trouble and this was a day we needed to start getting wins.
“I don’t think it’s confidence, I think we just let ourselves down through a lack of quality. Whether that is confidence, I don’t know, but we’ve had opportunities to put the ball in behind them from free kicks and build a bit of momentum, but we couldn’t get the delivery right. We work on it in training but we’re then not able to execute it in a game.
“It’s those little technical things that have let us down. We had opportunities first half where we get a little bit of a break but couldn’t find the right pass. There was one where Jordan Gibson pressed really well and he needed to roll it in for Jack Diamond, but he played it behind him, then Jack did well and had the chance to play it in front of Fin Back but he put that behind him as well. All of that momentum we build up gets killed, so it’s little, small things that cost us, but they end up being really big things.”
“We’ve got to keep going” he said. “It was disappointing to lose Jack Diamond, he got a whack on his ankle and it was too sore to carry on. Fin Back was feeling a bit of tightness around his hips because of the intensity of the game. We’ve just got to get everybody back on the grass again and nurse everybody through it and just keep working. We’ve just got to keep going, that’s all we can do.
“I don’t think it’s anything serious for Jack, I think it was just a kick, but it’s too early to say. We’ll asses it on Monday and see how it settles down, but I’d like to think it’s nothing serious. There are many things we need to do better and need to improve on rather than hoping and praying that Jack Diamond is right. We’ve got to make sure we do a lot of things better than we did today.”
Today’s results saw United go to the bottom of the league: “It can’t get any worse than it is in my opinion, even before today,” Simpson said. “Whether it’s bottom or second bottom, it’s not good for anybody. We were in trouble before today and we’re still in trouble now. There’s still a ten-point gap but like I keep saying, if we don’t start winning games then it’s irrelevant what everybody else does. We have to just roll our sleeves up and play with a bit of pride. We’ll keep working and see what comes.
“I’m saying it every game but the fans have been outstanding. It’s a tough day for them today, especially at 3-1. We got the penalty at the end to make it look a bit more respectable but we can’t keep doing what we’re doing. The first goal is a really good finish from Forde, I don’t think the second goal is a corner as I said earlier. He’s given a corner as a bit of a cop out and no doubt I’ll get an apology of the PGMOL again. Those things are costing us, but in the end the way they went about it meant they were the better team with better control over the game, and they deserved to win it.”
On the decision to leave Paul Huntington out of the squad, he explained: “It was one of those things where I felt we needed to have a bit more legs about us in the back three. We needed to be higher up the pitch but unfortunately it didn’t work today and we didn’t get the result.
“I have to pick a team that I think is right and I explained the situation to Paul on Thursday. He understood but I’m sure he’s not very happy about it, and I gave him the option of whether he wanted to travel or stay and do some work at home. He said he felt it would be better to stay and do some work. We’ll get back in together next week and keep working from there.”