“We couldn’t find that spark”

Speaking after the FA Vase defeat to Newcastle University, joint manager Tony Fawcett acknowledged that the enforced two week lay-off due to Covid-19 may have contributed to the team’s poor performance. “I’m really disappointed, the lads are gutted, we’re gutted, but it’s football and at times it happens like that. Lots of our lads have had an off day today and not performed and coupled with that the Uni played well and made it a difficult day for us. Their energy levels were a lot higher than what ours were. Is that because we’ve had a tough game on Wednesday night and we hadn’t played for a while?  Maybes it’s caught up with us a little.

“Both Derek and I thought the team warranted playing again. They performed really well on Wednesday and they deserved the chance to play again. Should we have changed it? Maybe, who knows, but whatever we changed throughout the game didn’t work, so I think it was just one of them days when nothing’s gone our way. They did look tired and they’re gutted because it’s not that they didn’t try today. They still ran and still put a shift in. They just couldn’t get going and were stuck in first gear all game. We made a few changes and tried different styles but just couldn’t get a way to get going, we couldn’t find that spark.”