Geoff Butler was left seething after watching his struggling Weymouth side throw away a two-goal lead against Hinckley United at the Wessex Stadium.
Mark RobinsonThe Terras were on course for three valuable points in their fight against relegation after Mark Robinson had struck a double blow on 26 and 45 minutes. But the hosts caved in after the break, allowing the Knitters to hit back and claim an unlikely 2-2 draw.
The manager blasted: “We played some outstanding football in the first half and it was a joy to watch. Robbo scored two tremendous goals and we could have been four or five ahead at half time. We didn’t have to do anything special in the second half. All that was required was for us to keep our shape and discipline and the game was ours for the taking. But yet again we’ve fallen apart, stopped marking people, given the ball away and missed some great chances and all that’s allowed Hinckley to get back into the game. If I had a bunch of kids in my team I’d be saying hard luck to them now and telling them to learn from their mistakes. But there’s seasoned professionals in the side – players who are supposed to be experienced and have the know how at this level and I’m at a loss to explain why they do what they do.”
He added: “The bottom line is that we have to start learning how to win football matches because if we don’t, we’re going to get relegated.”
Butler accused his players of treating the second half like a `practice game’ and was furious at the way they allowed Wayne Dyer and Scott Voice to salvage a point for the visitors.
“It was like watching a kick around match at training,” he said. “For their first goal, we’ve allowed their number eight (Dyer) to stroll completely unchallenged from the halfway line and crack the ball home unmarked from just inside the penalty area. Then Steve Tully has stood off and allowed their bloke to get in a good cross from the left and somehow the striker (Voice) has got in front of three experienced defenders to head in the equaliser. You can’t afford to let players roam around unmarked and you definitely can’t allow the opposition to get in quality crosses like that. We’ve done both and have been punished for it and I just can’t believe we’re that naive.”
Having been robbed of the services of Julian Charles, Mark Rawlinson and Ryan Ashford, Butler was fully justified in his decision to play Robinson alongside Lee Phillips up front.
“Robbo was magnificent,” admitted Butler, “and he certainly didn’t deserve to be on anything other than a winning side. He battled and worked like a Trojan out there and he can be proud of his contribution. But one player can’t do it on his own. We should have got about five or six and you’d expect Lee Phillips to put away at least one of the chances he had.
“It’s a bad result for us and I’m far from happy about it. All we had to do was stop them playing in the second half but we weren’t good enough to do that.”
