Daish criticises his side?s worth ethic during Stafford shocker

Gravesend & Northfleet boss Liam Daish criticised his side’s work ethic as they crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season last night, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Fleet went nine games unbeaten before losing 2-1 at Weymouth last week in front of the SKY cameras, but bounced back with a 2-0 win over Cambridge United at the weekend.

But a “bad day at the office” last night saw striker Charlie MacDonald score his 12th goal of the season, heading home Sacha Opinel’s corner after 63 minutes - but sorry Fleet were 2-0 down at the time.

An unfortunate eleventh minute own goal from Fleet skipper Paul McCarthy set the tone for a poor performance from the north Kent side in front of their lowest crowd of the season.

A brace from 41-year-old striker Neil Grayson was sandwiched by a goal from his partner Guy Madjo, but Daish, who saw many fans head for the exits before the final whistle, warned his side about the Midlanders.

A stunned Daish told www.kentishfootball.co.uk after last night’s game that his side’s performance and the heavy result had “come out of the blue.”

He said: “It’s a funny way of bringing you back down to earth football and that’s what happened. We’ve got to regroup, take it on the chin and go again.”

But Daish did not expect his side to play so badly, but although the Fleet remain in eighth place in the Nationwide Conference table, they have only lost four times from their first 15 outings.

Keeping the same starting eleven that defeated one of his former clubs during his playing days, Cambridge United, Daish said: “We always prepare the same way. Didn’t see it coming. I made it aware to the players that it was always going to be a tough game.

“I said in my programme notes that teams like Stafford, Tamworth, anywhere in the Midlands always give you hard games physically. We weren’t up for it physically. I take the blame for it.”

But Daish wants his players to return to the work ethic that saw them enjoy a nine game unbeaten run.

“I’m not going overboard, we are a good side but we’re not an individual side,” he said. “We need everyone working as a team. We weren’t at it. We need to be a team. We didn’t work as a team and it cost us.

“You need to put the effort in as a team. We get our successes when we work hard collectively.

“We played like individuals today and not as a team, against a side who have come here as a team, worked very hard and bullied us a little bit.

“But I take responsibility in a way. Don’t get too disappointed when you lose but don’t go overboard when you win. Maybe I’ve gone a little bit overboard when we won?”

Daish, however, was full of praise for his teenage trio, Luke Moore, who played in midfield, and substitutes Chris Anderson, who almost scored, and George Purcell.

“The players have been magnificent this year, can’t fault anyone of them, but it tells me something when the best three players, or the three positives were the 18-year-old’s,” he said. “I wanted my older players to take more responsibility.

“I still like my players. We’re disappointed as a group, I’m part of that group.

“Like I say, I take responsibility as much as what the players should today. Today we weren’t at it as a team as we have been up until tonight.

“Shows us it’s been a reality check for us in a way. We can’t win a game of football when we are playing as individuals. We need to be at the races or at least working hard for each other.

“I know teams from the Midlands are going to fight, pull ranks and get nice and close and fight for every ball. We didn’t have that little bit extra.”

Daish’s troops travel up the Derbyshire on Saturday, and he demands a positive reaction at the Pirelli Stadium against Burton Albion.

“We’ve got to go up there and if we play like this against them, we’ll be feeling very sorry for ourselves on the way home,” he said.

“We’ll address things on Thursday (in training) and hopefully get back to what we’ve been doing in the previous 13-14 games.

“The lads have set their standards haven’t they? It’s a reality check for us. We can’t just turn up, put the shirt on and (think) we’ll beat Stafford.

“Knowing this league there are no easy games and it’s caught us out today and we’ve come unstuck.

“It’s a difficult place to go to so we’ll have to pick a side to get something up there. It’s going to be a hard game and I’m looking for an improvement on what we saw tonight.”

Meanwhile, the Fleet’s Ladies side have been drawn at home to Kent rivals Gillingham in the first round proper of the FA Women’s Cup. The game will be played on Sunday 29 October.

But tonight (11 October), Gravesend & Northfleet’s youth side travel to Sevenoaks Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Youth Cup.

The match, at Greatness Park, Seal Road, Mill Lane kick’s off at 7:30pm. Admission is just £2.