Rob Edwards says he will not accept starts to games like he saw from his team at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
The Old Gold were two goals down within the opening five minutes at the Amex Stadium and gave themselves an impossible mountain to climb, despite an improved second half and a number of chances created.
That slow start was punished by a lively Brighton side chasing Europe, and the head coach cut a frustrated figure in the tunnel post-match, knowing if jobs were done better in those opening stages, his side would have made a better fist of the contest.
On the performance in general
“We were still in our nice hotel for the first five minutes – you can't start a Premier League game like that. From the kick-off we got the throw in, we don't play forward and play into Brighton's unbelievable press, and then before we know it, we're 1-0 down. We’d not woken up and not clicked into any kind of gear of defending for the second goal for the corner.
“It’s shocking, people not doing the jobs, and people in the zones not heading the ball – it's not good. I can accept losing the game against a team like this at the moment. We know they're light years ahead of us at the moment, but in giving them a start like that, I can't accept that. We can be out done by brilliant play, which they've got, because they've got great players, but you start a game like that, I can't accept it.”
On two goals in the first five minutes
“Human beings can be unpredictable at times. We're not controlling with joy sticks out there. They will make mistakes, unfortunately, and today, from the start, we've just got punished. Maybe the first goal then affected them for a couple of minutes, for the second one as well, for the way we defended the corner. You prepare well, the warm up is good, the message is right that we are saying, and they are saying before we go out there, but then when they go over that white line, you need to do your job.
“There wasn't a lack of effort there, but it was not being mentally engaged, tuned in, they certainly started at it and on it. I can't accept losing the game in the manner that we did, because if you don't concede those first two goals, we know we'll have our moments, which we did. I don't think it's an attitude thing, it must have been a focus thing.”
On an improved second half
“There were moments there, and first half I could see that when we played forward and got behind them, there was an opportunity there for us. We tried to be aggressive with our pressing, we forced them long, and when we won it back, we had to keep it. So many times we head it back down, they're winning the second ball and they're getting away from us.
“Second half was better. We've hit the bar. We've had Tolu’s chance, Armstrong's chance that was messy, Channy’s one was arguably offside. If we get it to 2-1 you never know, and we tried to remind them that half-time, we've come back from 2-0 down against Arsenal and Brentford, and we showed that belief.”
On his message to fans
“They’re incredible. It's been a horrible, horrible season. They were brilliant today. They made noise throughout the game and you could hear them the whole afternoon. The fans were great, but they're right to be angry at the moment.”
