Leamington 'missed too many chances' in Spennymoor defeat
Paul Holleran was philosophical in defeat after his Leamington side fell 2-0 at Spennymoor Town on Saturday.
Glen Taylor scored both goals, one from the penalty spot, to lift Spennymoor into the play-off zone and leave Leamington 12th.
And Holleran felt it was a day where things just didn’t fall for his side.
He said: “I thought we struggled with their shape in the first half, much like we did in the game at Kidderminster. It was something I was trying to educate the players about when we got them in at half time; how I felt we could exploit that shape.
"It was something I thought we executed brilliantly in the second half for long periods, and to be fair we had a few chances to get the game back at 1-1, and that would have been key.
"We’ve missed too many chances, and when you’ve got Ramshaw and Taylor… It’s a bit like the lad at South Shields (Cedwyn Scott). That was the difference in that game and Taylor’s been the difference today.
“I want us to be able to identify as a group how we can deal with that system on-field, and try to exploit the spaces in the wide areas behind the holding midfield player.
"Once we went through that at half time I thought we came out with more intent about us. We looked more of a threat and we’ve had chances to make the game 1-1, but we haven’t, and the difference in the game is, when Taylor gets a chance, it’s a super finish.
“We showed lots of character, lots of endeavour, we were a bit naive at times but there were plusses as well. Our game management’s got to be a lot better.
"I’d have loved the game to have gone to 1-1. We deserved that. We were in the ascendancy probably from 45 to 70 minutes, but it wasn’t to be.”
Attention now turns to the FA Cup for Leamington and a trip to Alvechurch on Saturday in the second qualifying round.