Flitcroft Talks Swindon & Fleetwood

Manager David Flitcroft has given his thoughts on the Swindon game at the weekend and the quick turnaround to Fleetwood’s visit on Tuesday evening.

Beginning with the two points dropped against Swindon Town, Flitcroft wasn’t too happy with the incorrect free kick decision that changed the momentum in the game.

Speaking to the Gazette and Herald following the game, he explained.

‘It was not a free-kick, that`s a fact, we`ve seen it. It`s not a free-kick, Hallam Hope, wins the ball, pinches the ball and it goes in a different direction. We`ve got our big wall up, but the free-kick is stunning, it`s absolutely stunning. It`s pinpoint, it`s hit the stanchion and it`s one of them things. It`s a moment of high quality and it gets them back into the game. Swindon Town have come to our place and got two shots on target and scored two goals. That`s the representation of what we`ve witnessed, that`s the outcome.’

In further quotes following the game carried by the Manchester Evening News he went on to say it was disappointing to have thrown the extra two points away, but in many ways we just have to put this game behind us now and look for further improvements so we manage games better in the future.

‘You`ve got to put them to bed because they can produce moments of quality, as we saw with the free-kick. The substitutions gave them an impetus and a way into the game, and a bit of naivety cost us two points.’

Speaking more broadly about the game, he went on to explain that there were positives he could take from the showing though.

‘At 2-0 up we were cruising and giving a top-quality team real problems. To only be sat here with one point is disappointing but I have got to take the positives out of the 65 minutes we were outstanding. We nullified them for long periods, they only had two shots on target, but I don`t want to get drawn into that negativity about what could have been. Mark Cooper has carried on his good work from last season. I saw his side tear apart Bradford last week so it just shows you where we are trying to get to.’

Obviously hoping for a response in the midweek game against Fleetwood, the gaffer had said pre game to the Bury Times that despite lingering Swindon disappointment the players and he were going into the game in good confidence, and confident that we can compete with anybody in this division.

‘We go into the Fleetwood game with a verve, with a confidence and a real belief that we can go and take on anyone in this league. When the fixtures came out, on paper it looked a tough start for us. Doncaster are fancied to be up there fighting for the play-offs. Wigan are favourites to romp League One, and Swindon, who were play-off finalists last season, have already been smashing teams up in this league. Now we have got Fleetwood, who have been very consistent performers. When the fixtures first came out I saw it was a difficult start. But while we have not got the deserved points on the board I have seen nothing in this league yet to frighten us.’

And Fleetwood certainly turned out to be a game with seven goals on the night, but sadly Bury being on the wrong end of four of them.

Speaking to the Official Site following the game, Flitcroft admitted that he had a lot of thinking to do because we went from such a good position to losing and he wasn’t quite sure why.

‘I`m deep in thought right now, looking at why from a good position we have conceded in the manner we have. I haven`t seen that coming, especially after a good pre-season and a good start to the season. I`m not happy at all that we have conceded four what I would say were very poor goals. I`m in a reflective mood, trying to understand it for myself and trying to evaluate it as we speak. It`s a difficult one doing this press conference so soon after the match, because I haven`t seen us defend as bad as that at Gigg Lane. I`m disappointed for the fans, I really am. I feel as though we got breached too many times tonight.’

He went on to say that scoring three times on home soil clearly should see you to three points, but conceding four goals like that was ‘massively disappointing’ but he admitted all night something didn’t feel quite right about the side, even when we were winning but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

‘We looked okay, but something still didn`t feel right in the first half. They penetrated us a couple of times and it didn`t feel right, we didn`t feel solid. Even when we were winning the game we didn`t feel solid, so I have got to look at that. Leon Clarke is going to score goals up front and he`s shown that so far, but we need to tighten up at the other end to make them count.’

Hopefully just one of those nights rather than an indication of anything in particular.

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