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Created on Sunday, 05 February 2023 10:44
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Last Updated on Monday, 06 February 2023 12:11
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Published on Sunday, 05 February 2023 10:44
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Written by KEVIN MARRIOTT
Millbrook manager Macca Brown took plenty of positives from Western Premier defeat at Barnstaple after his side produced one of their best performances of the season.
The Brook, who were 2-1 up, have played far worse than this and won games, so while the result was frustrating, the overall display was encouraging for the remainder of the season.
Brown said: “I have mixed feelings, because as disappointed as I am with the defeat, I’m actually delighted with the performance and really it’s a game we should have won, no question, given the chances we created. “We’ve not been a serious attacking threat at all in recent months, and we had to address that and we saw what we are capable of. “We let ourselves down conceding three goals from set pieces, which makes it five out of the last six goals we’ve conceded being from set plays and that’s something we need to stop, but we continued to look really solid defensively from open play so there are good signs. “However, to be fair, two of the goals were also own goals, and that’s always more unfortunate but it obviously didn’t help. “But I felt we dealt really well with their style, we know they’re direct and that’s never easy to play against because they’re back to front very quickly and it often leads to corners or throw-ins which are always a problem with Tucker’s long throw.” Brown revealed that his depleted squad was further reduced when Hayden Greening reported to Jenkins Park instead of Mill Road. He said: “I’ve got to admit I didn’t think it would be our day when already with no Jason (Richards), Knighty (Ryan Knight) and JT (Josh Toulson) due to work, and Ed (Goodman), Ben Goulty and Sam Cox unavailable with injury/illness, I got a phone call from Hayden at 12.30 telling me he’d just arrived at Jenkins Park when we were all 80 miles away in Barnstaple, but the reception he got at half-time when he eventually walked in the changing room was brilliant. “That was then compounded by Caleb (Summerfield) heading into his own net after a minute, so not an ideal start and you start fearing the worst. But full credit to the lads, we responded brilliantly and started to control the game, scoring two fantastic goals.“Woody (Jack Wood) embraced his inner Thiago with one of the passes of the season for Kieran (O’Melia) to finish well, and then set Thommo (Sean Thomson) up for a crisp finish to put us 2-1 up.“Two more set pieces haunted us but despite being 3-2 down at half-time we felt we’d create more chances in the second half, and we certainly did that. “Thommo had two golden opportunities with one hitting the bar just after the break, before they managed to take an identical chance at the other end. That was poor defending from us and the two goal cushion away from home would always make it more difficult but the lads were superb, we created so many more chances. “Foz (Jake Foster) hit the post, Kieran and JJ (Josh Johnson) both had great chances one on one, before Thommo had another one saved well. So it’s hard to be too disheartened, especially when in recent weeks we’ve been poor in an attacking sense. “I don’t always buy into opposition managers telling me how well we’ve played after they’ve taken three points from us, but there were several comments from numerous representatives from Barnstaple, including their manager, which reaffirms my belief we were superb. “It fills me with great belief moving forward, but the lads have to reproduce that at home to Keynsham this Saturday. “Only Mallet have taken six points from us this season and Keynsham have the chance to do that, so we have to ensure that doesn’t happen as taking points off every team is something we strive to do.”
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