Duff left frustrated as Robins throw lead away yet again
I sound like a broken record, says boss after Oldham defeat,
AFRUSTRATED Michael Duff said he is “sounding like a broken record” as for the second away game in a row, Cheltenham Town lost a 1-0 lead to suffer a 2-1 defeat as they went down to Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park.
Just as they had at Port Vale a week before, the Robins led, this time after Reuben Reid’s calm finish in the 30th minute, but it was cancelled out four minutes later when Dylan Bahamboula’s shot was parried by Josh Griffiths into the path of George Blackwood, who forced it over the line.
Michael Duff’s side had the majority of the ball in the second half and nearly regained the lead when May set up Andy Williams, but his low effort was kicked off the line by Harry Clarke with nine minutes left.
Oldham snatched the winner with five minutes left when a corner from Jordan Barnett caused problems in the box and after one effort was blocked on the line, Arsenal loanee Clarke followed up to score.
An exasperated Duff said: “We went 1-0 up and that’s the third time this year that’s happened, going ahead and losing the game to a set play.
“They were there to be beaten today, the way they set up.
“They wanted to try and hit us on the counter and I think we’ve had about 70 per cent of possession.
“We wasted 45 minutes and we’ve given two really poor goals away.
“I sound like a broken record at the minute. We need to do more than that to try and win a game of football.
“It’s happened all season. We went 1-0 up against Forest Green and had a wobbly five minutes.
“It’s something that needs to be addressed because you can’t give teams a leg up.
“We worked really hard because they banked in and it is difficult and we proved that on Saturday.
“You get your goal ahead, then see the game out.
“They have to change the way they play then and they can’t keep letting us have the ball.
“Or we just keep the ball for the sake of it.
“But you give them an opportunity in the first five minutes of scoring and we wasted the first 45 minutes of the game.”
Again, it’s not me being harsh on the players - they need to be better.
“Players need to be better than that and there are better players out there than what they are showing.
“The inconsistency is frustrating. It’s difficult because the games are coming thick and fast, but we need to perform better than that to win a game.”
“Saturday was never going to be a problem, getting them up for the game because of who it was.
“We need to be more ruthless in both boxes. Against Morecambe at home we should have been out of sight, same thing at Port Vale last week, same here, go 1-0 up and kill the next five minutes and then they have to change the way they play and then see what they do.
“But we didn’t do it and if you don’t do it, you get punished in this league.
“Of our four defeats, we were 1-0 up in three of them and conceded a set play goal in each.
“The other one (Grimsby) was a bit of a random game in terms of things going against us.
“I can accept that one because you get days like that. But you can’t waste 45 minutes of football. It’s frustrating, more than anything.”
Cheltenham host Northern Premier League side South Shields in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Director of football Mickey Moore watched Shields beat Gainsborough Trinity 1-0 on Tuesday night - their fifth successive clean sheet and fourth win in a row.
“By all accounts they are a good side, who are full-time so they will have better players than their level says.
“I’ll be expecting a reaction after that, as I was after last Tuesday.”
Oldham Athletic (4-3-3): Lawlor; Hamer, Clarke, Jameson, Borthwick-jackson; Dearnley (Bahamboula 9), Ntambwe, Whelan (Garrity 71); Blackwood (Rowe 60), Barnett, Keillor-dunn. Subs not used: Bilboe, Grant, Fage, Mccalmont. Cheltenham Town (3-4-1-2): Griffiths; Raglan, Tozer, Boyle; Thomas, Clements (Blair 58), Sercombe, Hussey; May; Reid (Addai 72), Williams. Subs not used: Harris, Freestone, Horton, Sang, Chapman.