Presteigne St Andrews FC missed out on a possible league double when they were beaten 4-3 at Knighton Town in their Boxing Day MMP with Norman Lloyd League second-division clash at Bryn-y-Castell.
My thanks to manager Alan Stocker for taking the time to send me his considered thoughts on the game.
“We started the game really well and went 1-0 up within 10 minutes,” said Alan.
“Tom Crichton fired home a volley from Duane’s Anning cross.
“Against the run of play Knighton equalised but the lads kept going and created several clear cut chances but through a combination of some wayward shooting, the crossbar and some excellent saves by the young Knighton keeper Ben Davies we failed to take advantage.
“Had we done so, truth be told we could have put the game out of sight.
“However, we did score with five minutes of the half remaining when Tom Crichton was on hand again to calmly slot home after some good work down the wing by Jordan McQueen.
“But this advantage was to prove short-lived as Knighton once again equalised within minutes of us taking the lead this time through some poor defending from a corner.
“The second half we looked like a completely different team; the pressing, off-the-ball running and quality of passing which was in abundance in the first half was non-existent.
“We gradually let Knighton take control of the game and they went 3-2 ahead from a 30-yard wonder strike.
“They then went on to score their fourth, again from some suicidal defending from a corner.
“Tom Crichton completed his hat-trick with five minutes left but this was just to be a mere consolation as the game ended up 4-3 to the home side.
“In summary, I was bitterly disappointed with the performance of the players in the second half.
“We should have been out of sight in the first half but I’d seen enough to know that we could have won the game if we could replicate the first half performance after the break but we didn’t.
“Our failure to defend set pieces and to put our bodies and heads in where it hurts cost us.
“Knighton – with several experienced players – took full advantage of that and turned it into a half of men against boys.”