Gaffer's thoughts after the Gillingham game
Micky Mellon was deflated after Shrewsbury Town were on the wrong end of a five goal thriller at the Greenhous Meadow. The manager was especially disappointed as his side were 2-0 up at the break, only to lose 3-2 with seconds left of the match:“It is a sickener. It is a real hammer blow going from being in such control to ending in the way it has. We can go through all the goals and every one of them you can say who hasn’t done well but it isn’t the time for that. At this point the important thing for all of us is that we have a two goal lead at home and then we don’t manage the game properly. We don’t see it out and we end up losing 3 goals. At the minute I am just gutted. I don’t think we capitulated but I thought it was three moments of madness that have cost us.”
“The frustrating part is we could have moved on through the gears and turned into a really 90 minute performance. That is the frustrating part. It is a tough one to take. It is a sore one for everybody. For the fans and all of us. It will be a long evening now. You can’t be 2-0 up in professional football and believe that it is good enough and then lose 3-2. That is the bottom line. I know that and I am not going to make excuses about that. I take my responsibility for that. It is disappointing.”
Despite the negatives Louis Dodds shone through, bagging himself a brace to put Shrewsbury two goals ahead but the manager admits it is hard to be positive after the last gasp defeat:
“His two goals are crackers aren’t they. I thought he was going to march on and maybe get the hat-trick but it wasn’t to be. We all have a feeling of disappointment at the minute and that is in everyone’s heads. You have to get back on it again and crack on. It is part and parcel of football. It is a sore one but you just have to go again on Monday. We need to speak about how we can improve and what we have learned and hope that we can take the lessons on and if the situation comes again we will do better.”
AJ Leitch-Smith was denied a winner by Jonathon Bond in the Gillingham goal minutes before the Gills grabbed the winner and Mellon feels this might have played a part in his players switching off:
“I don’t know if we all thought about that chance in added time and were disappointed with that and then allowed that to sort of get into our heads for the next couple of minutes. Then we don’t deal with a corner properly and it is just a heartbreaker to see it nestle in the net and you are just standing there thinking what has happened there.”
The 44-year-old admitted Jay Emmanuel-Thomas did well with his wonder strike from 35 yards but he feels all three goals could have been avoided:
“You can do things about all of the goals. I don’t like to talk about individual stuff and it isn’t my management style but there were moments where you have to believe that every moment is dangerous and deal with it. We didn’t do that and we have allowed them to pick the ball up and he has struck it well to be fair to him.”
“It was very clear how we got ourselves two goals up and it was clear what we had to do in the second half and we spoke about it. But we weren’t able to manage the game properly and get the result over the line.”