Elliott Dickman has demanded his side show more attitude and character after Newcastle United U21s fell to defeat a Leeds United. The young Magpies' six-match unbeaten league run came to an end with a 4-2 defeat the league leaders on Monday afternoon.
Kris Moore headed the hosts into the lead after just 50 seconds, but Josh Scott quickly levelled after capitalising on a pass from Jamie Miley. Newcastle withstood late pressure to go into the break level, but crumbled after the restart.
Max Dean bagged a second-half hat-trick in the space of just 18 minutes, and grabbed the first by pouncing on indecision from Harry Barclay to poke the ball past Jude Smith. The striker was then gifted a second just moments later, with a poor free-kick from Alex Murphy presenting the 18-year-old with an open goal.
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Barclay pulled one back with a smart first-time finish from a Scott cutback, but Newcastle were easily cut open for Dean to complete his treble shortly afterwards. Dickman could not hide his frustration after the full-time whistle, admitting the players need to take 'responsibility' when the going gets tough on the pitch.
He told ChronicleLive: "We have to manage key moments in a game, and it's something we've been speaking about for a period of time now. That's why it's so disappointing.
"Some of the players need to understand the reasons why we're asking them to do certain things, whether it's managing moments, decision-making in critical moments and times. It's taken a little a bit longer than I think we would like, and once you've spoken about the scenarios and situations a number of times, we would expect the players to understand and execute that.
"That's the disappointing thing, we've got to keep going with it and keep working. Ultimately they have to take responsibility once they cross that white line, they have to take responsibility for their decisions and the way that they play.
"The main thing from the game today is some of the decision-making when we've been in possession. We need to show a little bit more grit, character and determination when things are going against you. People are going to make mistakes, and it's how you respond and react. We got overwhelmed by the mistakes we made today."
Dickman was pleased with the inital response to conceding the early goal, and felt Newcastle bounced back quickly to make the first half 'competitive'. However, the U21s head coach felt the response to setbacks made the match 'far too easy' for Leeds.
He said: "I thought we got off to a really poor start conceding as early as we did from a set play which is really disappointing. But then I thought we managed to compose ourselves, show a little bit of character to get back in the game.
"The first half apart from the start was quite good. The second half, once we conceded the second, we didn't show the character or the attitude that we expect as a team and from each other. We made the game far too easy for them.
"We've come here and made a game of it first half. To concede the way we did in the second, to allow them to score the way they did was really disappointing.
"The goals are soft, it is too easy to concede the goals we did. As a group, we have to be stronger, more resillient and make better decisions in those moments.
"Ultimately those two goals have made the game difficult for us to get back into it, albeit we did score a second. But then again, we shoot ourselves in the foot by conceding another goal which is not great from our point of view. We have to manage those moments a hell of a lot better."
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