Missed chances cost us

SKELMERSDALE United boss Dave Powell reckons Monday night’s 3-2 defeat at home to Droylsden could have been avoided had their plethora of chances been taken.

Droylsden led the encounter 3-0 after 70 minutes, but late goals from Josh Wardle and Jack Lenehan - who opened his account for the club but also netted an unfortunate own goal early on - made the scoreline a little more respectable.

And Powell could see a mental difference between the side that fell to defeat at Volair Park compared to the spirited 0-0 draw with high-flying Hyde last weekend.

“The first-half was a bit of a hangover from Saturday,” Powell said. “We played Hyde, who are one of the promotion favourites, and put a right shift in with three lads sick.

“It’s had an effect on the rest of the team, and making changes through injury didn’t help.

“It was heavy minds more than heavy legs. We weren’t quite thinking enough in the first-half and playing on the front foot.

“It was sloppy defending where we haven’t been conceding goals like that and it was a very sloppy way to start the game.”

When United did eventually get going, Powell reckons spurned chances cost them a chance to complete a thrilling comeback, but praised his players for their resilience despite suffering from an off-day across the park.

“We’ve had four or five chances first-half. We’ve got to be taking those. We’ve been sloppy at the back, not on the front foot in midfield and not taken our chances up front.”

The Skem boss - whose side are nine points clear of danger with three games remaining - was also unhappy with the amount of time added on.

“We got two back and I thought we’d have five or six minutes to go and get an equaliser.

“Instead there’s only two or three when we’ve had two full sets of subs and a goalkeeper wasting time”.