Day seeks ruthless edge after ‘small margins’ hurt Boro
FARNBOROUGH’S disappointing start to the new year continued on Saturday as they suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat on the road at National League South mid-table side St Albans City.
It was an even game until the stroke of half-time when Boro winger Selim Saied fouled Dominic Hutchinson inside the box for a penalty to the hosts. Hutchinson comfortably dispatched the resulting spot-kick into the bottom right corner in first half stoppage time.
Fourteen minutes into the second half and City had doubled their advantage. A defence-splitting pass allowed Dan Bowry with space to cross on the right wing, with the unmarked Mitchell Weiss converting from six yards out.
Farnborough ensured it was a nervy end to the game for the hosts when Olly Pendlebury’s shot was turned into the net by striker Hady Ghandour on 89 minutes – his third goal in as many games.
Yet it proved to be too little too late as Boro suffered a loss in Hertfordshire in front of an impressive Step Two crowd of 1,619.
Day bemoaned: “We’re back to that horrible ‘small margins’ phrase. I thought the game was actually decided on the stroke of half-time, where they get the penalty, and the start of the second half, where we have the best chance of the game; clean through, Connor Cullen is one-on-one and unfortunately the keeper saves it. It’s those small margins. We have to take that chance.
“I thought we started both halves really well – much better – on a very heavy pitch. I thought we passed the ball better than we’ve passed it in a very long time, against a good side. But the difference is we didn’t really create an awful lot. We got done, up the hill, it’s our corner and we’ve got to defend that better on the counter.
“They got lucky with the ball through the middle, but we’re onenil down. It is a penalty, but it’s soft from our perspective and shouldn’t be happening from our corner.
“Second half, as I said, I thought we started completely dominant. We got in or around their box six or eight times in the first 15 minutes and we’ve not done enough, not made the keeper do anything, and the first time they’ve got in our box, they’ve scored. That’s the ruthlessness of it, and it was really hard to take. Then we didn’t really have enough. Obviously at the end we’re throwing everything at it. We’ve got a lot of niggles; people thinking they can get through 20 minutes, and the first time we find any real quality in the final third, we score.
“We don’t manage the final five minutes particularly well and with that small margins phrase, we come away losing. Even at the end, the referee doesn’t add on the full balance and we don’t even get the chance to take the long throw because we’ve taken it too quickly.
“It’s frustrating because I think we had the better of the possession over the 95 minutes. Obviously, second half we were down the hill. They’ve been ruthless and we haven’t. We’ve had a lot of set pieces but haven’t really got near them.
“We’ve got a lot of injuries and suspensions, like everybody does. We gave a half decent account of ourselves. I was really pleased with our passing on the floor, because every time we kicked it in the air, [Joe] Partington just heads it and that was not the plan.
“I thought young Taylor [Clark], in from Wycombe, had a fabulous debut. The pitch is certainly not what he’s used to, so a great start from him. I’ve come away really disappointed, but in the end St Albans have deserved it because they’ve been ruthless in both boxes.
“I hate losing games. We had three subs and two of those were only partially fit. All three centre-halves had knocks, Selim [Saied] came off because it was feeling it, but it is what it is. We’ve got a massive game against Welling in 10 days’ time. We’ll get some positive news around the club and look forward to getting back to ours. We have to pick ourselves up, try and put everyone back together and go again.”