Manager reflects on away defeat
Despite an improved second half performance, Mark Robins felt his Huddersfield Town side didn’t do enough to trouble Blackpool stopper Matt Gilks.
Gilks was forced into one relatively difficult save to deny Nahki Wells during a fairly comfortable afternoon for the stopper.
Matters got off to the worst possible start for Town when Ricardo Fuller fired his side into a fourth minute lead. Speaking about the first half, Mark said: “It was as poor as I have seen us and it wasn’t nice to watch. The second half was better, but we were still short of where we can be.
“We need to get back to passing the ball because the performances and results won’t come until we do. Our passing was pedestrian at times. We gave Blackpool the opportunity to fight for something and they battled for their lives.
“They proved a tough nut to crack and we just couldn’t get enough shots off.
“We are decent at passing the ball and in the second half it improved, but we are just papering over the cracks because we were shocking in the first half.”
James Vaughan returned to partner Wells, but neither received the right service to cause damage.
“We looked disjointed at times and we failed to provide Nahki and James Vaughan with the service that they need,” said Robins. “There are nine games left and we need to keep on working; the players are playing for their futures.
“If we don’t start picking up points the teams below us will catch up; we were talking a few weeks ago about finishing in the top ten. Motivation shouldn’t be an issue and I don’t necessarily think it is because the lads are working hard in training.”
Despite Town’s U18s and U21s being top of their respective leagues, Mark felt it wasn’t the right time to be moving them into the First Team.
“Things need freshening up,” he admitted. “But we need the performances to improve before we can start giving the youngsters a chance. It is very difficult to throw the young lads in at this stage because they aren’t mentally ready to cope with the pressure.
“The supporters have come out in big, big numbers and we haven’t given them much to shout about,” he added. “We didn’t do enough to win the game. It is another one of those which we have to put quickly behind us.”
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