We spoke to Mike Williamson following our defeat to Swindon Town.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: “Disappointing, not good enough. Basic things, simple things that we're getting punished with consistently, which seems to be a consistent narrative, which is hard to stomach, but the first 20 minutes, half an hour of the game, we're on the front-foot, we create chances, we don't take them. That probably takes a little bit of wind out of our sails.
“But when I'm stood here on the back of the result, looking at that, it's difficult to stomach, it's difficult to digest, but two direct goalkicks, one direct from a corner, and two counter-attacks, and we're sitting here after a 5-1, defeat so it's hard to process that at the minute.”
We asked Mike how he approaches those basic errors. He responded: “We have to just drill it, obviously we just have to drill that even more, defending any set pieces all over the pitch, even from a goal kick, because we've been punished twice.
“We know the threat of every goalkick is not just a dead set piece, it's an opportunity for them to score a goal, and likewise when we have them and we work that, we give the boys detail, obviously at the minute, off the back of two promising performances and one promising result, you come in here and you want to really start on the front-foot, which we did, and then we get punished by simple errors.”
“Standing here right now it's hard to put a finger on what’s changed from the last two games, obviously there's a lot of pressure, but that's no excuse, at the minute we're working extremely hard and we're getting punished by the smallest mistakes, but that's on us because we're making the mistakes.
"All we can do is come, dust ourselves down, come back in, just be relentless in our preparation again, and try and do everything we possibly can, but the Fleetwood performance and result, really good, and then obviously not the result at Notts County, but a real performance to be proud of, and you go toe-to-toe and the lads get a lot of plaudits from it, and there was a lot of good things, and you feel like you're building that momentum, and it's one of those when you think there's that light at the end of the tunnel, at the minute it seems to be a steam train that just wants to take us out.”
Jordan Jones was sent off after two yellow cards, both for simulation, Mike gave his opinion, saying: “Again it’s another anomaly for me, I'd say there's two soft fouls there, but there's contact in both, and nine times out of ten, 9.9 times out of ten you get the free-kick, and nobody bats an eyelid, but for some strange reason, we get a man sent off”
On the mood in the camp, Mike said: “They've just had the stuffing knocked out of them, they're just in disbelief, we're certainly not 5-1 worse than Swindon, and that performance didn't warrant that, but we're sat here again, and the frustrating thing for us, for the lads, for all the staff, is it's a consistent narrative of being punished by small things, because we have to work extremely hard to create our chances, and then at the minute we're not taking our chances.
“There's many things I would be critical of the lads for, but the main thing for me is endeavour and effort, and really wearing your heart on your sleeve. I can say that they're giving everything, but we're just making schoolboy errors, that are costing us, and the lads are just emptying the tank and giving what they can, but getting hit from left to right, it's hard to digest.
“It's all down to us, and I don't want to be disrespectful, but the manager [Ian Holloway] is very experienced, and he's got them from a difficult place to a very good place, so they deserve a lot of credit, they're really hard to play against, and they made it hard all afternoon, but for me, I've already watched it back now, and that's why I was late here, but little bit by little, we just hand things over, and then when we should be going in nil-nil, trying to tweak a few things, trying to get lads to liven up, and go back to the ideas that got them in that first half an hour, that got us into those opportunities and chances, really on that front foot, giving Swindon a real hard time, we'd brush up on it and we'd go again, but we'd come in one nil down, and then a few minutes into the second half, the same thing happens.”
Joe Hugill scored a wonderful goal. Which means little in the context, but was well deserved for a player who’s started life positively at BP. Mike said: “I’m pleased for him, like I said to him at half-time, he can't drop his head, because since he's come in he's worked his socks off, he probably feels in another season he would have had two or three goals already, but pleased for him to get off the mark, and I've got no doubt that if Joe keeps working the way he does, he'll get more.”
Mike provided an update on injuries/absentees. First, on Aaron Hayden, Mike said: “He's feeling much better, so I think he should be getting the all-clear, probably just see the doc on Monday, and hopefully get the green light.”
Next, Stephen Wearne: “He did a little bit today, still not fully back to where he needs to be, but we're hoping he should be available for next week.”
On Paul Dummett: “He's not having surgery, I think he's going to have a couple of injections, and try and rehab it conservatively.”
With the transfer deadline on Monday, Mike spoke about anymore business: “I don't know, we're working, and that's all I can say, obviously this is very much taking our attention today, so there are things, there are possibilities, and we've just got to keep working and see it through.”
Finally, Mike ended with a message to our supporters: “I'm repeating myself, but I understand it, and the boos and the chants and the comments, are because they care, I fully understand that, and they feel as though if they were on the pitch, they'd be dragging that ball into the back of the net, and fighting with everything that they've got, so I fully understand the messaging, we've just got to keep working hard, and control the controllables, and make sure that we just stop making school boy errors.”
