9:00am Wednesday 10th March 2010
I DON’T feel the players are learning from their mistakes at Worcester City.
Individual errors have proved costly this season but, after saying the same things for much of the campaign, I don’t think the message is getting through.
We have just got to get to the end of the season and try and rectify it then.
When I talk about a lack of discipline, it’s not always about people getting themselves sent off, it’s about carrying out their jobs.
I was disappointed with Hampton and Richmond’s goal in the 1-0 defeat on Saturday because their player, Craig Dundas, latched onto the ball about 50 yards out and was allowed to run into the box before we gave away a sloppy penalty with a poor challenge.
That all forms part of a player’s discipline and knowing how to defend properly.
Everybody will make mistakes but you can’t repeat them week after week and expect to be successful and that’s been our Achilles’ heel.
Striker Rob Elvins and left-back Shabir Khan have been shown red cards in recent games but it’s very rare that a team will go through a season without having players sent off.
Anyone who saw the video evidence of Shabir’s first sending off against Newport County on New Year’s Day would know it should not have been a red card.
The game has changed a lot since I was playing and you can’t get away with anything now.
It’s going more towards being a non-contact sport.
Rob got a red card at Hampton and Richmond in October but, in my opinion, that wasn’t a sending off either.
There was certainly a case of play-acting and I thought their captain, Dean Wells, got Rob sent off and that triggered the ugly scenes that followed.
Rob also lost his discipline on Saturday because he was frustrated the referee didn’t give him what I thought was a stonewall penalty.
I don’t like to criticise officials but I don’t think the standard of referees is the greatest.
But that’s not an excuse for players getting themselves sent off and then not being available for future important games.
Players will get sent off for mis-timing a challenge but when they get dismissed for hitting out at opponents and getting frustrated I can’t tolerate that.
We will deal with each case internally between the club, myself and the players and we will keep the matter private. A view is formed of the situation and what suitable punishment, if any, should be applied.
That said, I am more concerned about the Worcester players doing their jobs properly.
If we can take a point from a game, that’s better than no points at all and that should have been the case against Hampton but we seem to keep having lapses in concentration.
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