Development Coach disappointed with first half showing
Town’s Development Coach Steve Eyre has praised his Under-21 side for their performance despite seeing their four-game unbeaten run come to an end with a 3-1 defeat to Birmingham.
“All in all, I think we were just slightly off-colour and I don’t think by any means that we were poor today,” said Eyre.
“We have been on a fantastic run, but we were just a bit off colour in the first half and it left us too much to do.
“There were missed opportunities, but I actually think the two saves from their ‘keeper (Callum Preston) in injury time were world-class. That didn’t help and we also missed a couple of chances of our own doing.
“It’s disappointing but we’ll always take things from the game. We mentioned before the game that we thought the two 45 minutes would be completely different because of the wind. They started with the wind on their backs and it was matched with the fact that there was a little bit of sloppy defending by ourselves.
“I was delighted with the chances we opened up for ourselves in the second half and the transition of the team from half-time onwards.”
Town were 2-1 down when a cruel deflection off the referee gifted Birmingham a third.
“The ball sadly hit the referee after we defended very well and it bounced onto one of the players for 3-1,” Eyre said.
“It left us with a mountain to climb in the second half, but I think they played the conditions slightly better than us.
“It wasn’t down to just the wind, but sloppy defending from ourselves and the pressure from the visitors. Three things made it difficult for us in the first half; the conditions, the opposition and I didn’t think that we were tuned in enough defensively.
“I asked for a reaction at half-time and without actually affecting the score line in the second half, I thought we were comfortably the better team but we left ourselves too much to do from the first half.”