Paul Carden: Small things costing Telford
Paul Carden’s message to his AFC Telford United side after a 3-1 Boxing Day home defeat to Chester FC was a simple one: “It’s the little things that count.”
Carden believes his side’s woes are the result of many small errors accumulating to create something much larger, and that characteristic was woven throughout their performance against the visiting Seals.
The Bucks conceded first yet again, and despite their efforts to play catch-up, they were undone by failing to score in their best period of the game, early in the second half. They then conceded twice in a seven-minute spell to see the points slip away, with Carl Baker’s injury time goal their only consolation as they stayed rooted to the foot of the Vanarama National League North table.
“There were moments where we didn’t do the basics right, and that’s what’s undone us. The first goal comes from a ball played by Simon Grand, but we don’t deal with it. The cross then squirts across the box and ends up in the back of the net from just a toe-poked finish, and that set the tone.”
Carden felt his team responded to that setback, but admitted that giving themselves to much work to do time and time again is having an impact:
“People get frustrated; you can hear it around the ground, the lads can feel it, and you can see it in the play, and I thought we tried to get back into it, but then there were moments where you need to deal with things, just winning straight balls, or you don’t win headers.”
“So many little things make big things happen, and when you are where we are in the league every little mistake is costly. When you’re up at the top and you make a mistake, you can get away with it, but when you’re at the bottom it seems to go the other way.”
“You’ve got to be stronger; you’ve got to be more resilient, and if you do make one mistake then don’t make another one, but we seem to be doing that.”
Carden added midfielder Mace Goodridge to his squad for the game, signed on non-contract terms from league rivals Chorley, but was without defender Theo Streete, as a result of coronavirus, which will likely rule him out of the Bucks next fixture, away to Leamington on Tuesday.
