A very disappointing afternoon for you, Joey...
Yeah, I'm gutted. Gutted for the fans, you want to go on a cup run, the FA Cup is magical. We picked the strongest team we could in the circumstances, with Sam Finley and Jordan Rossiter going down with viral infections, spewing up. Jordan hasn’t made it. Sam said he felt alright to go on the bench, he probably had 20 minutes in him, we had to play him 45. John Marquis goes down this morning with belly problems.
I don’t want to use that as an excuse, we weren’t good enough today and we should still have enough quality to get through it, we certainly have to be better when the league campaign starts again next Friday.
Particularly in the first half, it seemed like it was a flat performance, is that Boreham Wood knocking you out of your rhythm or was you just not quite at it?
I just thought we were wasteful within the first 15-20 minutes. I thought for Aaron (Collins), as good as he has been there were many moments he had where he lacked that bit of ruthlessness.
For us, I just don’t think we were anywhere near the expected performance we expect to be. Again, if you are slightly off it, you get dumped out of the FA Cup and today we were nowhere near the levels we believe we can get to and deservedly we don’t get put in the bag for the third round.
You knew coming in that they were a very strong set-piece team and you weren’t quite able to stand up to that...
Yeah, we have done quite a lot of work on that this week. We spoke to the lads and said look if they are going to score it will be from a set play, that's their best route so we need to be switched on in wide area’s and for us that has been the undoing so as a coach and group we will go back and analyse that
But again for us, there are lots of moments in that game where we have done some crazy moments. Their goal, the first goal has come from us having relatively comfortable possession and one of our players plays a pass that I’m still scratching my head at, there are five of their players and none of ours in the vicinity and we get countered off it and ultimately we go behind.
As I say, we were not good enough, we have not scored against them at home. I don't think their keeper made any good saves, so we are playing a non-league side with the greatest respect for them.
They are in the conference and i think some of our boys need to have a good long hard look at themselves as that isn’t the standard of this football club, this isn’t the standard going forward and if they think that is they won’t be here if they continue in that way.
I was really surprised, you have been playing some really good stuff recently if you think back to the Peterbrough game, there was no real sign of a performance like that coming...
Yeah, I did not see it. I mean, we made a couple of changes in the middle of the pitch, Glenn and Antony in there rather than the normal three we have in their due to illness and sickness but even then we should still have enough quality there, but we were second best and deservedly beaten.
Second-half, there was a bit of a reaction, you brought on four subs at half time that seemed to improve the tempo of the game but you did not carve out enough good chances did you?
You're 2-0 behind and you have given yourself a mountain to club, to be honest we were lucky, they hit the post and it could of been three, we got what we deserved today and that was absolutely nothing.
No matter where the league table is, you don't just turn up and expect to beat people. A few of ours today have thought the reputation and the way they played in recent weeks was going to be enough for Boreham Wood to roll over and get their bellies tickled and, again, I don't know what planet they are on but every game of football regardless of the level of opponent deserves enormous respect and you have to play like your life depends on it, and we have not done that. They won’t get any further progress in the cup because of that.
It is just one poor performance recently, how do you deal with that with the players, do you have to read out the riot act or do you be a little bit more considered?
For us, I said to them in the building, it's good football and it's almost a bonus for the players, it’s a good competition. Bread and butter for us in the league, it's kind of a bonus. I could not have been any more relaxed with the players this week in terms of its over to yous, for me I'll obviously bring the whip and cane back in for this week's work because some people clearly benefit more for being under pressure rather then relax and play football and we haven’t done any of that. It’s very very dangerous at this level when you allow players to think, so apart of my learning is take the thinking away from them.
A timely reality check, I know a phrase you like to say is “you pay the rent” on your performances, even in a game like this you need to pay the rent, a reality check for your players I guess?
If you come off at any level by fractions you come up and as I say I don't think they were, its not like they tossed it off, they just didn’t have that... you gotta go and out want the opponent and that’s the most disappointing thing for me. Yeah, we could have played a bit more.
There were some mad moments in there. In terms of Antony Evans’ pass for their first goal is just beyond me, I don’t know what he has seen but after that we still got a long period of the game to respond and react.
Across the board when we look across the whole group, the 16 players that has played out there today, I think baring Josh Coburn and maybe Harvey Saunders, Sam Finley for climbing off his sick bed to give us 45, but I think the rest of them needs to dust themselves down and comeback with a complete different intensity.
Defending set pieces has not been a strong point all season but today it seemed really poor in terms of hesitancy and lack of intensity in those moments, and as you say it is a key point in the game, the second goal was from the second phase but before that there were so many chances to clear it, is that because of the occasion and its there cup final, do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I don’t know. For me, we are a young side and the naivety can sometimes creep in, in those moments. I mean it’s like a street fight in the Conference, they were using their body and even when they are 2-0 up the keeper and defender goes down, they used the clock strategically, we knew in the build-up we had seen that they were like that and that deserves credit.
That is the lowest point in my career as a coach - that is the worst team I have ever been exited out of a competition by, and over the time of my managerial career i imagine it probably won’t be the last time with the FA Cup but we just got to have more desire.
We ended up putting Ryan Loft against two lads that have a streetfight nearly every week, we didn’t control enough phases in possession, when we did have possession we were too deep with it to slow with it.
So look we were c*** today, absolutely in every department, every player bar probably Harvey Saunders, Trevor Clarke, Josh Coburn , Sam Finley, as I say, apart from that the rest of us need to go away and make sure when we get to Bolton in the Reebok next week that we respond accordingly.
Is that how stern the warning is that no matter what players have achieved here, they can’t at any moment come off it to that level and put in that level of performance?
They’ve set the bar now. The bar has been set with what we’re looking for and that’s not just from me, it’s the fanbase.
We’ve set our standards and today we were clearly below our standard of performance. For me, certainly in the past 12 months, the standard of performance has been relatively high, but a rude awakening for us and if there is anybody in that dressing room that feels that might be accepted, you know how effective and ruthless and efficient we are.
Their f****** feet won’t hit the ground if they think that’s the level of performance.
The FA Cup is great and we want to have a good cup run and visit some grounds. I don’t really give a s*** about it because I’ve played in all these places.
Are we going to win the FA Cup? Absolutely not. Could we take the fans on a journey and the team on a journey? Yeah, so I’m disappointed in that regard because it’s an exciting competition, but the bread and butter for us is establishing ourselves as a League One club, which we’re making a good fist of.
I don’t get to watch the draw on Monday with any anticipation and I don’t watch them anyway. I get to prepare for Bolton and the key is that we reach our level of performance and anybody who doesn’t consistently do that, whether you’ve been the best player for us last year or we’ve paid money for you this year, if you don’t get to it, you won’t hang around here.
I don’t like losers, I don’t like spending time with losers. The group that lost for us in the first period when I took over, 40 of them have exited the building, staff included.
You get a short time on this planet. I don’t like spending time with people who don’t care about what they do and don’t apply themselves correctly in every single moment of their life.
On the whole, our lads are superb. Today, we were miles short, and that is everybody involved, miles short, and they know the reality of it. They know we don’t mess about and if they don’t reach the level of performances that we expect, their time here will be very short.
Of course, there is no easy game but is Bolton the right kind of game to go back into after this? because its something they won’t need any motivation, getting up to a decent stadium on a Friday night, they know they are going to have to be dramatically better than that.
Yeah we will expect a response, again its a mad old game football, as good as we were last Saturday, in departments we were as poor as probably we have been in long period of time in that performance,
But yet again you have to give Boreham Wood credit, yeah we have been s*** but Boreham Wood have won here because we have been crap, that isn’t the case, they have come here and defended superbly, they have organised themselves from set plays and they deserve to go into the next round.
We haven’t been good enough. There will be an inquest into that and we will get down to the bottom of it, I think a lot of it, if I am honest, is due to personnel; the level of performance from some of the players today who have been given an opportunity hasn’t been at the level that we expect, and again a rude awakening if we don't pay the rent, as I like to say.
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