Penalty controversy in Romans’ defeat
City denied spot kick as slow start sentences side to second straight loss
Jerry Gill watched on in horror as his side gifted Concord Rangers three points at the Aspect Arena. Alex Wall benefitting twice inside the opening ten minutes as the Essex side’s start left the Romans stunned. Although Sean Rigg pulled one back in added time, the goal wasn’t enough to salvage a point. It left the boss feeling helpless. “You can do all the work in the week and preparation, but we’ve not been beaten by Concord, no disrespect to them, we’ve beaten ourselves today,” he said. “The two goals early in the game makes it a mountain to climb for the lads. “The first one is an obvious mistake. We give messages to them before the game and say Wall’s a handful; Don’t get involved in the tussle, don’t give away free-kicks because he wants to back in and fall. “We do that first. Then the ball comes in the box, it’s a poor clearance, and they score from it. You can’t account for mistakes like that. “The second one is actually our corner. We don’t lock out on the edge of the box, they break free, one pass breaks us open, go through and they’re one-v-one with Ryan Clarke. “Two poor mistakes. Two poor goals and you’re 2-0 down.” City outnumbered Concord in terms of shots, but could not find a way past Sam Beasant, or Sam Blackman, who temporarily matched his keeper’s handling when the midfielder blocked Andy Watkins’ effort on the line. “There’s a blatant handball on the line, everyone’s seen it bar the referee,” Gill said. “Their player is saying he basically caught the ball as well, which is frustrating. “We dominate the game, create a lot of chances ourselves and should have scored first half, Watto’s had a good chance which he should have perhaps done better with. “There’s an unbelievable save from Ryan Brunt’s header, Watto with another chance, James Morton goes close with a couple of shots, then it’s a good goal from Sean Rigg, who has done well when he’s come on. “Ryan didn’t have to pull off a save until the end when he’s had to smother it where again we were a bit loose. “Other than that, it was nothing. We were the dominant team.” Falling behind so early gave City a mountain to climb, particularly against a Concord side unbeaten at the Aspect Arena since August Bank Holiday, with the fewest goals conceded at home. City had the best away defence until recently, but five shipped in two games has given the City chief slight concern. “We look like we’re going to concede goals a bit too easily,” Gill said. “In any game you can’t go 2-0 down so early because it effects players’ confidence. “When you’re used to keeping clean sheets for such a long period of the season, early goals effects players’ confidence. That’s what it’s done today. “We look a little bit loose in and around our defending third. Not in regard of how we play, because our performance levels are still there. “I’m not disappointed with the way we’ve played, I’m disappointed that we’ve given away two silly goals again that have cost us the game. “That’s been the difference in the last two weeks, it’s been two poor defensive performances in key stages. “Clearances have to be clean, you don’t have to foul. If we’re attacking, we’ve got to make sure we’re locking the edge of the box out so that one pass doesn’t cut us open straight away.” Having gained the early initiative, the hosts defended in numbers, a strategy Gill has seen before. “We’ve spoke about it so many teams that teams will just block us out,” the City boss said. “He [Wall] was isolated on his own. “It’s not application or effort, they’ve tried their utmost. Everyone can see that. “They’re trying to do stuff the right way, thinking and tactically. “If you look at the performance in the game, we were by far the better side.” A second successive defeat saw a slip to sixth, but there is no need to panic according to the manager, aware that they haven’t lost three league matches in a row since he took over. “You’re not going to win every game,” he said. “It’s important we don’t get too carried away and say we’re on a bad run. We’re not on a bad run. We’ve lost two games of football, that’s all it is. “When things like this happen, you’ve got to make sure you have enough leaders around. Experience is invaluable to a team. “We’ll make sure that we don’t lose three.” Saturday sees Slough’s first visit to Twerton since April 1997, a goalless draw in the Conference, which was replicated in January at Arbour Park on the 3G. The Berkshire outfit have just one win in nine heading into the fixture, recording a 2-2 draw with Dartford at the weekend. “It’ll be better on our grass pitch, we found the pitch there was a little bit too quick; some of our normal passes were running out,” Gill said. “They’re a well organised side with indifferent results. They have a threat, of course. “We fancy our chances against anyone at home. We’re really looking forward to that game. I am already, we want to get these league results out of the system. “I’ll take a positive because second half we win the game, and the performance is very, very good in terms of territory and efforts. “That’s the message we’ll send back to the players.” Gill confirmed Kevin Amankwaah should be to face Slough but was unsure on Joe Raynes, who suffered bruising on his foot in a training ground injury last Thursday.