Gate Hard Done By After Loss

Joint Manager Steve Brown felt his side deserved more for their display against Lewes on Saturday afternoon.

The Gate were left to rue numerous opportunities as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat. A curling free kick proving the decider during a game in which the hosts enjoyed dominated attacking spells. 

Reflecting on the match, Brown said: 

“I’m disappointed for the players who have created enough chances to win the game. We’ve missed a penalty, we’ve had three or four chances - not just in the penalty area but inside the six-yard box - we’ve hit the crossbar, we have had a goal disallowed – it was just one of those days!”

“To be on the losing side today, I think is a little bit unjust and all you can do is lick your wounds, train this week and look forward to the FA Cup tie next week.”

Brown admitted a lack of goals is a concern for his squad but believes if the performance levels and work rate are sustained, The Gate will be more-kindly rewarded.

“It’s happening a little too often, we are coming off the pitch saying we’ve created enough to get something from a game and we haven’t.”

“Worryingly, that’s three games without a goal and I don’t think our performances have warranted no goals in those three games.”

“There’s no point dwelling on what’s gone, we look forward to the next game and if we can create that amount of chance again, I’m telling you once one goes in, two will and three…”

The result provoked lots of post-match discussion between the coaching staff and players as Brown revealed a strong unity amongst the squad to work towards converting performance into more pleasing results.

“Lewes had a couple of really good chances in the second half although Henry made two brilliant saves, one after the other. What Lewes do, in terms of the way they split and try to chip balls over your midfield into a front player to break out and attack, it can sometimes look like they’re performing really well. But if you look back, there is no doubt - in our minds anyway - that we’ve created more today.”

Brown added,

“Mike and I said to the boys after, do we retain the system we’re playing with to keep creating these chances or do we amend to look that bit more solid?”

“Let’s be honest, Lewes did have their chances and broke through our lines on occasion; do we tighten that up and create less, or do we create a lot of chances and hope we take two or three? There must have been ten or more good chances today.”

Despite the disappointment of such a narrow result, Brown saved praise for a number of youngsters who’ve settled well into life in the Bostik League.

“Jack Paxman is performing terrifically at right-back. As a young lad coming out from Deal Town to move up a couple of levels and perform the way he is, is an absolute bonus.”

“I think he is positive, has great energy and is getting more and more composed as the games go by. Jack is a little terrier, in terms of that he will get into players much bigger than him, he doesn’t mind a physical challenge. At Dorking and Brightlingsea, they put bigger players on him and it wasn’t a problem for him.”

There was praise for goalkeeper Henry Newcombe and others too:

“Look at Henry today, he’s made a couple of great saves in the second half. Little Chris came on a little subdued today but his performances by in large have been terrific with great energy.”

“Sid is a 19-year-old kid looking to break it as this level. We were not happy that he left us in the first place, but we are delighted to have him back. Sid is very, very good physically and he’s powerful. We want to help coach Sid to make the right decisions, as physically he’s more than good enough at this level and I am pretty positive you will see Sid score some pretty good goals this year. He has got that in his locker in terms of capability. “

“The only difficulty when you bring in youngsters, is that you get high energy but sometimes you get some naivety as well. But it’s down to Mike and I to iron out that naivety and help them grow as players over the course of the season.”

Looking ahead to Saturday and the visit of Horndean to Hartsdown Park, it’s a game Brown is looking forward to.

“When you lose 1-0 after creating so many chances, another game coming up soon is exactly what you need. We had our discussion after the game, we put the result to bed and look to the FA Cup game. “

“We really want to progress in the FA Cup and the Trophy and we’ve actually got to look at players who haven’t had many minutes so far. Swifty needs a game, Prescott needs a start and I look at that knowing they will play, and we are still a strong side.”

“We may need to look at further changes as one of the difficulties at this level is getting players the minutes they need to keep their fitness up. Saturday is a game we want to hit the ground running, progress and get into the next round and beyond.”

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