Manager's reaction after draw at Coventry
Neal Ardley expressed his disappointment with the match officials after an injury-time equaliser from Coventry that he said should have been ruled out for offside.
Speaking during his post-match interview, Neal said: “It’s hard enough to take when there is an offside once, but the second goal was offside twice. The initial cross comes in and there was a guy offside, but he was not flagged. Darius headed it clear and it comes back off a Coventry player to a player a yard in front of James Shea and a yard in behind our back four. He was offside before he shot and they put the rebound in after the keeper saved it.
“The officials are blatantly not doing their jobs for it to be offside twice and it has cost us two points. We always look at our team and ask how players can do things better, but you expect people to get key decisions right. You never want officials to have an effect on a game, but we’ve had it a couple of times this season.”
Despite his frustration with the officials, Neal was far from happy with the performance of his team in the first-half.
“It was disappointing to say the least,” the manager added. “For us to have an opportunity from a corner at one end and then the ball is in the back of our net 30 seconds later is criminal. Players who were back did not do their jobs and it ends up with the rest of the team suffering. We had to pick ourselves up after that. We were fortunate to come in at 1-1 for half-time because they were much better with their intensity.
“I thought in the second-half we were much better. The effort, intensity, and running off the ball was of a good quality and because of that we ended up getting our noses in front. We hoped we would hold onto that. I feel we’ve dropped four points in the last two games. We can take encouragement from some things and we need to get better in other areas.”
Neal Ardley’s full post-match reaction, extended match highlights, and an interview with Tom Elliott will all feature on Dons Player later on today.
Pic credit: Stuart Butcher, Pro Sports Images.