Holleran left to rue defeat as depleted Leamington lose at Scarborough
Paul Holleran felt Leamington were left to count the cost of having a depleted side after they fell 2-0 at Scarborough Athletic on Saturday.
The defeat, played out at Athletic’s temporary home in Bridlington, saw Harry Green and Stephen Walker get the goals that mean Leamington are now five league games without a win.
And Holleran felt that having key players unavailable did his side no favours.
He said: ”I was a bit concerned coming into the game because obviously we’ve got a few players missing. At the moment I think the schedule, the travelling, the games, the legwork - we’ve got players coming into today’s game that have already run 24k this week.
"They’re a good side, Scarborough, we know that, and the schedule of away games - Spennymoor, Fylde twice and these - you could see it in the first half, but our game management wasn’t enough.
“We were well beaten today, but the first 20 minutes of the game, regardless of that, our shape off the ball just wasn’t quite there. I think when we tinkered with it a bit we were a bit more competitive, but you can see that this run of away games has taken it out of us.
“I think it’s important now just to have a little reset. Can we get one or two back, can we get one or two in? I think we just need to enhance the group a little bit. There’s one or two - look at Joe Clarke - he’s done great for us, but he’s at the stage of his career where he doesn’t need to be playing 90 minutes every week in these types of games, but he’s tried, and he’s kept going and he’s tried to organise things.”
Leamington now prepare to return home this weekend with the visit of Darlington on Saturday, quickly followed by another home game against Macclesfield on Tuesday.
Holleran added: “Spennymoor, Fylde and Scarborough away will not define Leamington’s season. We know that, we’ve been here before. If we had everyone fit and everyone at it, and the game went like that I’d be worried, but I half know the reasons. I also know that Scarborough are a good side.
“We’ll try to have a good week in terms of treatment and in terms of getting players back. We’re pretty close to doing a couple of things, which I think we need at the moment, and we’ll see where it takes us.”