Manager Graham Alexander provided his reaction to iFollow Iron after the 2-1 home loss to Shrewsbury Town.
Josh Morris’ free-kick gave the home side the lead early in the first-half, but the Shrews hit back through Jon Nolan and then a Stefan Payne penalty in the second period.
Alexander felt his side were made to pay for missed chances during an opening period which they dominated.
GA: It was a game we should have won. We should have gone into half-time with a two or three goal lead. We did all the things we wanted to do and, to be fair, it was one-way traffic in terms of the chances. We were disappointed it was only one at half-time. The second-half started and they created a good goal from their perspective, where they’ve worked it well. Then, unfortunately, we made a mistake with a penalty and it’s won them the game.
ON JOSH MORRIS’ GOAL…
GA: It was a great free-kick to take the lead and we then hit the crossbar through Duane Holmes. Then, the goalkeeper made a great save from Josh when it was one-on-one. With the missed penalty too (Morris had an effort saved by Henderson), it should have been two or three at half-time. We’re not being ruthless with the opportunities and we’re giving teams the chance to get back into games.
ON MORRIS AND IVAN TONEY’S DEBATE OVER WHO SHOULD TAKE THE PENALTY…
GA: It’s not a good situation when you have two players arguing over who’s taking it. One player doesn’t have to argue about taking it because, up to now, he’d scored every penalty since he’s been here and has scored around 30 goals for us. There shouldn’t have been an argument at all. It’s extremely disappointing.
ON SHREWSBURY’S WINNING PENALTY…
GA: I thought it was a soft penalty. It was a lazy challenge but I didn’t think there was enough in it to get a penalty out of it, but it went against us. It’s not the first time that sort of decision has gone against us here. We were hoping we could get out of jail with Gillo (Matt Gilks) making a save but it was well-taken.
ON THE PLAYERS…
GA: It’s so difficult at the moment for me and the staff to look at the team and how we’ve done, and actually have a go at them, because we’re creating some really good opportunities which we expect to take and the chances that have been produced against us aren’t massive in volume or really clear-cut. It’s the final bit in terms of a shot that hits the bar or a one-on-one. We have to make sure we take the opportunities when we get them.
ON JORDAN CLARKE AND KYLE WOOTTON COMING ON FOLLOWING INJURY LAY-OFFS…
GA: Jordan has been out for a long time and we’ve missed his abilities in that right-back spot. I feel Bish (Neal Bishop), certainly for the last three-and-a-half games he’s played there, has been superb. It was good to have Jordan back in the squad. I spoke to him on Friday and he was all for it. We got him back on the bench. With Kyle, we only have two fit senior strikers and we wanted to have a forward on the bench. He managed to get on for 15-20 minutes, which will be good for him and he now needs to get up to speed with what is required to be in our team.
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