Paul Sturrock Match Reaction

Paul Sturrock gave his thought’s on Town’s 1-0 loss to Barnet after the final whistle.

‘The first thing I would like to do is apologise to our fans for our first half performance tonight. I want my teams to be honest and we didn’t play like an honest team tonight. The first half performance was the worst we have played since I have been at the club – but I have learnt a lot tonight that’s for sure.

‘We lost a bad goal at the back post and leopards never change their spots. Some players have been shown up for a lack of confidence this evening through mistakes and it will not be tolerated.

‘Some people will wonder why I didn’t bring in a few players sooner, but it’s something I will be looking to do now. I have targets and we will be making some moves. There will be surprises in my team selection on Saturday because I want to give this club every chance of getting promotion. The team that takes the field on Saturday against Chester will be an honest and hard working team. There are targets in mind and we will get to work on those first thing on Wednesday morning.

‘The players bring you to the water to drink and then they don’t get there. It is so, so disappointing because for people to work so hard and then for others not to be totally committed is not on.

‘Some of the younger players have not responded properly. I blame myself in some ways because maybe I should have looked at other things, but there are areas we have to make changes,

‘This team was hard to beat three weeks ago. We are still soft in the way I would like us to defend. This is a bad spell. There was a mountain that we were climbing to get promotion; that mountain has just got a bit taller but it is still surmountable. I have learnt more in a 45 minute spell tonight than I have since I arrived,’ finished the manager.