Mark Beesley reacts to late Gloucester City defeat
Warrington Town manager Mark Beesley admits his side didn’t warrant anything from Saturday’s display against Gloucester City in the National League North.
Following the high of a midweek 2-0 win at Farsley Celtic, the Yellows were dealt their second successive defeat by a Gloucester side fighting for their lives at the bottom end of the division.
Despite taking an early lead through Connor Woods – his 12th goal of the season – the visitors rallied and found a response 15 minutes from time through the newly-introduced Ben Beresford.
Then in the fifth minute of injury time, Harry Pinchard capitalised on a mistake by Sean Williams to sweep home and complete a turnaround, earning the visitors just their second win in nine games.
SHOP NOW: Yellows merchandise
“They were probably the two easiest goals we’ve given away in three years today,” Beesley said post-match.
“We didn’t do enough in the second half. We still made chances, but if you’re going to make the mistakes we did and come up with the decision-making we did, it’s going to cost you.
“I don’t think they’ve done anything to beat us. We’ve beaten ourselves. That’s not being disrespectful, but from our point of view, we’ve given them two goals.
“They weren’t exactly opening us up and Dan [Atherton] wasn’t making any saves, but if we’re not ruthless in killing teams off, other teams could score when they get their chances and that’s what happened.
“They finished the two chances they got well, we had 10 and only scored one.”
The Yellows won’t have to wait long for the opportunity to put things right on home soil, with National League North heavyweights Scunthorpe United set to visit Cantilever Park next Saturday.
While admitting the performance of his side was out-of-sorts, Beesley was keen to look at the bigger picture of the season, with Town still occupying a top-half position and sat just four points off the play-offs.
“It’s a missed opportunity to win a game of football,” he added.
“The bigger picture is outstanding for us, but we’ve missed an opportunity today to gain three more points. It doesn’t taste very nice and we’ve got to learn from it quickly, as from our point of view, that was really disappointing.
BOOK NOW: Upcoming away travel
“We’ve given them three points today, and that’s the first time we’ve done that this season.
“Considering we’re 39 games in and it’s the first time we’ve done that, it’s not too bad but we’ve got to be better than we were today.
“We weren’t ruthless enough and we’ve got to learn from that, especially the younger players we’ve got in forward areas.
“They’ve got to put chances away or make a better final pass, but the biggest thing today was that our decision-making was poor after the first half an hour.”
Buy tickets for our upcoming home games at Cantilever Park!
