Hallam made to rue missed chances at Retford
A 2-1 defeat at high-flying Retford on Saturday brought the curtain down on a week to forget in Toolstation NCEL Division One for Hallam. Following the adandonment in midweek, when the floodlights failed with the Countrymen 4-0 up after an hour, a penalty just after the hour saw Hallam head home empty- handed from The Rail after Richard Tootle had levelled the contest with a screamer from distance in the first half. Ian Jones and Glenn Poulton from the Hallam FC Website caught up with Manager Stephen Whitehead, who offered his reflections on a turbulent few days.
Stephen, what an unbelievably frustrating week.Give us your take on Saturday's game.
They had a game plan to allow us to have a lot of the ball and then break quickly. We were not creative enough with the ball, at times sloppy in possession. They nicked the ball played one ball to Adam Scott with our defence out of position, and it’s 1-0. Again we created loads without a real threat on our own goal. We missed a number of chances which we need to start converting. Then the referee falls for a penalty, where their lad has made sure he made contact with ours. I could go on about the officials, but it gets you nowhere; and ultimately we just didn’t do enough - and the lads weretold that at the end.
What do you think made the difference, especially after Richard Tootle's cracking equaliser so soon after their opener.
A fabricated penalty and us missing chances - it’s as simple as that. We again have a chance in Bish ( Micah Bishop) to head home a cross under no pressure at 1-1 and it gets headed over the bar - as you have probably seen from our coverage. We head that home and we end up with three points, so we need to do better.
It's Glasshoughton on Tuesday. What can we expect from them?
They normally have a well structured game plan and work hard so we will have to match that. We really need to get that first win of the season to kick start us so hopefully we can kick on and start climbing that table..
