08.11.08 Welshpool Town 2 Carmarthen Town 0

A disappointing result especially following Town's sparkling mid week form. Reflecting on the outcome coach Mark Aizlewood felt that the result was not the worst result but it was worrying. “I felt that in the three games since we’ve changed the tactics the players have been absolutely fantastic. When we were beaten at Rhyl I couldn’t have any questions of the players because they had done what we asked them to do and yet we lost the game. But you have to take that on the chin as a coach or manager”.

“Today they forgot to do the very basics of the game that is to run with an opponent, tackle an opponent, mark an opponent., They thought they had an excuse of hiding behind the tactic we’ve asked them to do”.

“But it was nothing to do with that. The reason was we didn't win enough second ball, we didn't win enough headers we didn't win enough tackles and quite simply the opposition run further than us. It sounds very simplistic but that was the reason we had a very poor first half”.

“Does the second half performance, when we dominated for 45 minutes, make the first half better or worse? In my opinion it makes it worse because in the second half people had energy, people had a bit of aggression.  If the players were feeling tired after three hard games in a week on the road they wouldn’t have been able to do that”.

"The penalty miss had no effect on the result whatsoever. Yes it would have been nice to get back into the game at 1-1 but they were battering us at that stage anyway."

“We’ve had some home truths with the players and now we move on. One thing is for sure we can’t do anything about that result. Now we look forward to our next challenge TNS”.

Manager Deryn Brace agreed with this coach “After the game the only positive we gave back to the players was that they weren’t quite as bad in the second half as we were in the first. We were 2-0 down it could have been double. We knew the players had more about them to produce a little bit more, which was what they went on to do. But we just couldn’t get ourselves back in it”.

Brace preferred to look forward to Town’s next challenge the New Saints. “The game is over there is no point in dwelling on the outcome and we look forward to taking on TNS. It doesn’t get any easier we would have preferred to go in with a win and the confidence from the win. Instead we’re going in with a huge foot up the backside so maybe that will work to our advantage”.

“There will be no change in approach. I’m confident we will have a positive reaction to today. We showed what we can do on Tuesday against Aberystwyth. We will be looking to emulate that performance not today’s”.

“I think TNS are too professional, too well organized to be influenced by us losing to Welshpool. They treat each game exactly the same and they are a benchmark we’re looking to strive to in terms of the way their players adapt to games, conditions and ways of playing. I think the game itself is something that will take care of itself”.

Deryn's Dugout