Head coach Scott Brown spoke to the media after his side lost their final away clash of the season against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon.
It was a solid performance from Town in tough conditions, but Bolton managed to find themselves in the lead midway through the first half and, after a very controversial decision from the referee which saw Jayden Stockley get sent off, the hosts doubled their lead through a Kyle Dempsey strike.
Here’s what the gaffer had to say after the game:
On the players’ performances this afternoon…
“We knew we had to bring our A game here and the lads did that; I thought, until the red card, we were in the game, had a clear game plan, and created a lot of chances, especially in the first half, and we were disappointed to go into the break a goal down.
“We dominated large parts of the game as the game plan was to sit in and, when we did get the ball, we were calm and collected and made some good decisions. As I’ve said, we were disappointed not to have scored before half-time."
On Jayden Stockley’s red card…
“It was a really poor decision; I’ve watched it back and it’s never a sending-off, they are saying he [Jayden Stockley] pulled his [MJ Williams] hair but that’s not what happened when we saw it. The fourth official made that decision for the referee – I don’t want to be talking about them.
“One poor decision cost us majorly because we had to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men. We had to go two up top and then we lost a second goal, these things happen. It’s poor decisions again and we will be appealing that one because we’ve all just seen that back.”
On the attitudes shown and the depth of the squad…
“They’ve got a lot to play for, both teams want to play attractive football, and they did as well as us. We competed in every position, and we maybe lacked that little bit of quality right at the end but, for us, you can’t be any prouder for these lads and we’re in a fantastic position compared to last season.
“The luxury of having Toto [Nsiala], Brendan [Wiredu], and Josh [Earl] is that they can all play in the same positions, and we even had Harrison Holgate on the bench as well, so we know we’ve got a strong squad and want to keep pushing boundaries, as we have done, and I’m proud of the lads."
