Wally Downes refused to use the conditions as an excuse for defeat today at Fleetwood and he was disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded.
Speaking after the 2-1 loss at Highbury Stadium, Wally said: “The second goal you put down to the weather circumstances, but I wasn’t too happy with the way it panned out for the defending,” said Wally. “We were not going with runners or getting the challenges in.
“You are going to get these conditions, you have to adapt to them. You have to be man enough to play the conditions. We played in similar conditions at Southend and scored a goal to get a win and we got a draw in a windy game at Shrewsbury. You can’t come here and complain if you get done due to the elements. You can’t have it both ways.
“They made a change (Paddy Madden coming on) that we should have adjusted to. He came on and played well, but it wasn’t really a massive change to their formation or the way that they played, but we didn’t cope with him well. We should have done better with the two goals that they scored. If we had done better in those situations in the game I think it would have been different.
“We had a good half last week and a good half today. Now we have to put them both together to win football matches. You can’t play for half a game, you have to nail it all together and be a collective. We have to stand up together and be a bit louder, a bit more professional, and have more game knowledge, but we are a young side and we are building. You have to take it on the chin sometimes, but we will learn and we will get there. We just have to put two 45-minute performances together, do our jobs, and keep working hard.”
Wally also updated us on Will Nightingale’s injury and his reasoning for selecting Joe Pigott as captain.
“The players look up to Joe, he was a big part of what we did last year,” added Wally. “He is a responsible fella, but you should have 11 captains out there. Will is going to have a scan on Monday. As far as I know, Dougy is not too worried about it, we just have to assess the level of strain that he’s got.”
The full post-match interview with Wally can be viewed below.