Tuesday night saw The Stones in action for part two of our 7-day home triple header. In a frustrating night for Wealdstone, the match saw spurned chances and a red card. We spoke to Stones gaffer Neil Gibson after the game to get his reaction to his team's narrow 1-0 defeat to Tamworth in a tough contest at Grosvenor Vale.
He pointed out that Tamworth capitalised on a single key moment, punishing Wealdstone with a clinical finish after scrappy play, ultimately deciding the match. Here's what the manager had to say.
"Extremely disappointing; it was a game we felt we could attack and win three points from. We spoke about the game and worked through it in training; we felt it was a game we could imprint how we play on Tamworth."
The first 15 - 20 minutes saw Tamworth pressure The Stones into their own box, but as the half progressed, the home side put its foot on the ball and gained composure for the remainder of the half but could not create any clear-cut chances.
The Gaffer added, "This isn't a negative about Tamworth in any shape or form; they are good at what they do, have great team ethic, work for each other, they don't build up; they get the ball forward. They are very structured in how they want to play the game."
The slow start from Wealdstone did them no favours and with the team loitering at the wrong end of the table, it is something the new manager is keen to turn around and get the team on the front foot.
"Did we start the game well enough? Probably not, in my opinion, and as a group, we all feel the same. We want to start the games on the front foot, we want loads of energy, to be really aggressive and be better around the pitch, and I feel like it took us 15 minutes to do that, and that's 15 minutes too long."
Once The Stones got going, they got into the game. However, Gibson admitted his new side struggled to break down a resilient Tamworth defence.
"Once we grew into the game, I thought we had a 20-25 minute spell; we started to move the ball quite well and got into some good areas. Maybe our end product wasn't quite there, but we can be better, and we have the players that can be better."
"The players were really good as a group at halftime in terms of being asked to start the second half on the front foot. The way we started the second half compared to the first half was night and day. I thought we were in the ascendancy, but when we went down to ten men, the game changed. I feel we still had plenty of chances."
The new Gaffer was then pressed on how he expects his teams to play.
"We want to play in a certain way; we want to keep hold of the football and keep them (the opposition) penned into their own half; that is the plan. Teams like Tamworth like to play the mid-block and counter. Obviously, when we went down to ten men, it made it more difficult to deal with the counter, and at times, they were able to switch the ball and cause us problems on that left channel."
Despite being a man down, Wealdstone stayed aggressive and on the front foot and refused to shut up shop.
"We had to be brave enough to try and win the game. There's no point in us shutting up shop with 35 minutes left at nil-nil and playing for a point. It's a home game, and when you risk, it's risk and reward you risk to try and win a game of football. It's better to risk it and win two and lose one, then end up with three draws."
"Everyone's getting used to me, but ultimately, we won't accept settling, we won't accept not being at our best; starting off poor, we won't settle for losing and drawing. We want to win games of football. I know that I've got a good, honest group of players, and they want the same."
"There are moments in that game if we'd have taken chances and started in a better fashion in the first 15, the game could have been different."
"We can't start games as we did if we expect the Vale to become a fortress. I won't talk about it because I think it's the right thing to say; I want to make the Vale a fortress because of the noise the fans make at certain moments. They are ready to get behind us, but we need to give them something to get behind. We've got to start on the front foot so the fans can get behind us and sense what we're trying to do. And then it can become that fortress."
"We will review the video. The players are in on Thursday, and we will make sure we are the best version of what we can be on Saturday."
Stones take on 4th placed Gateshead in another huge National League clash at The Vale this Saturday. The team need all your support as we try and climb up the table, together. Tickets purchased in advance are always cheaper, BUY NOW.