Manager Keith Hill reflects on his side’s 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow…
“I’m reasonably pleased with the way that we dominated the first half. There was patience and product with the way that we played,” said the Gaffer.
“The game management in the second half wasn’t great. We gave the ball back to the opponents far too much. I don’t know if the conditions hindered us in the second half, but I still expect us to manage the game better than we did.
“[When our goal came] I thought we had been playing quite well since we started passing the ball off turnovers. I was really pleased, and we took their key players away from our goal. The more you’ve got the ball, the less the opposition can make an impact on your goal, but in the second half I thought we gave the ball away far too often.
“I don’t think we played the conditions well and we should have kept the ball better, which put us under a lot of pressure. Those were the plans but there didn’t seem to be that game management from players.
“I expect all of my players to defend better than we did in the second half. When I’m talking about defending, I’m talking about clean passes and keeping the ball. I’m talking about running the clock down while trying to score another goal, getting into the offensive third with three or four passes rather than one direct ball, because one direct ball today went through to the goalkeeper. I can warn, I can try to educate the players, but ultimately, the players have to put the plan into action, and I don’t think they did that in the second half.
“But I’ll take a point. We’ve broken the 24 points mark, and, ideally, we get four points over the next couple of games, because that puts us in a healthy position going into the second half of the season. I’m happy with a point here as long as we build on it next week at home.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.