Reaction

The Wasps headed to Palmerston Park in confident mood after two back to back wins in cup competitions but in the end had to return empty handed having played very well in the first half especially, but failing to score the vital opening goal when on top. On the day it went down to costly errors in defence, the first goal a basic defending error and the second, being caught, against the run of play, when pressing for an equalising goal. Credit to the players who never gave in and even in the final minute Greig Spence’s header came back off the post but the rebound was hit high over the bar by Graeme Holmes when on another day it would have been a certain goal.

barry smith at palmerston

It was definitely a frustrating afternoon, in the first half we had control of large spells of the game, I thought we did really well and mistakes from us have cost us at the end, the second half the game just petered out, there wasn’t much in the second half. Overall we need to cut out the basic errors, which cost us today, especially in the first half we created and played some good stuff.

The players never gave in and played right until the end, even in the final minutes we had a chance, when Greig Spence’s header came back off the post, but we must keep trying right to the last minute but it just didn’t fall our way today.If we cut out the basic errors, as I say I thought overall the performance was good, we created chances in the first half, the second half the game did peter out but overall with our first half performance if we can continue that and cut out the basic errors we will do alright this season.

Look at the amount of chances we created in the first half, five or six good chances, but it is about taking these chances when they come along – McCord, Buchanan and Spence all had good chances and that then takes pressure off the back four. When we make mistakes we tend to get punished.