Manager Graham Westley speaks to PNE.Com following the home defeat against Doncaster Rovers.
“We can’t afford to go onto the pitch and play with a lack of self-confidence or tactical awareness. We have to go on the pitch and make sure those players learn quickly and bring those attributes forward which they are more than capable of doing.”
“It is more important than that, we are looking for the right reaction to all the little things that have ended up costing us today.
“We have to get ourselves back together now; the boys will want to react in the right way on Tuesday afternoon.
“The other side is that you go with your experience and play players out of position to keep the youth out of the team and I didn’t think that was the right thing to do.
“I don’t want to pin it on the lads but it is important to recognise that we have 18-20 year-olds within the side and you are always susceptible to making mistakes and oppositions are always going to look to play on those young players.
“We always knew it was going to be important to be switched on and not to give set pieces away and young players can sometimes find it difficult to remember all of the details of their jobs and execute the right behaviours in the right areas of the pitch.
“It is the nature of the type of team that they are; they have two six foot six defenders at the back. They offer a lot of threat from set plays and they have good delivery from David Cotterill.
them win points this season where they have been nothing more than dogged and a set play has suddenly pulled the game out of the bag for them.
“When you are tested against the top sides then your limitations and your weaknesses can get exposed too much more of a degree. Doncaster were always going to be a dangerous side from set plays, I have watched
“That was the order for today, we had a couple of young players make important mistakes and they cost us. Providing the lads learn, grow and develop then that is the most important thing.
“In the end with four or five big players out we are showing that the squad hasn’t got the depth to win these games. Any squad at our level with four or five players out missing is going to struggle to some degree.
“They tightened up their back four, they had players sitting in midfield and they made it difficult to break through.
“Doncaster have an experienced side and they made it difficult even though we showed the desire to get back into the game in the second half.
“Jeffrey Monakana naively gave away the free-kick for the second goal and the penalty for the third goal was debatable. The penalty put the game to bed but it wasn’t really the issue, at 2-0 we were already struggling to get back into the match.
“You don’t want to pin their learning as the only reasons for our failures. When young players are coming in and don’t quite get things right such as a man getting free which young Will Hayhurst should have stayed with for the corner.
“We have those two, Nicky Wroe, Lee Holmes and Jack King went down over night. With those five lads missing we were dependant today on two or three young players.
After the game, the North End boss said: “We have struggled along since we lost Keith Keane and Scott Laird and we have five big players out of our team.
“It is more important than that, we are looking for the right reaction to all the little things that have ended up costing us today.
“We have to get ourselves back together now; the boys will want to react in the right way on Tuesday afternoon.
“The other side is that you go with your experience and play players out of position to keep the youth out of the team and I didn’t think that was the right thing to do.
“I don’t want to pin it on the lads but it is important to recognise that we have 18-20 year-olds within the side and you are always susceptible to making mistakes and oppositions are always going to look to play on those young players.
“We always knew it was going to be important to be switched on and not to give set pieces away and young players can sometimes find it difficult to remember all of the details of their jobs and execute the right behaviours in the right areas of the pitch.
“It is the nature of the type of team that they are; they have two six foot six defenders at the back. They offer a lot of threat from set plays and they have good delivery from David Cotterill.
them win points this season where they have been nothing more than dogged and a set play has suddenly pulled the game out of the bag for them.
“When you are tested against the top sides then your limitations and your weaknesses can get exposed too much more of a degree. Doncaster were always going to be a dangerous side from set plays, I have watched
“That was the order for today, we had a couple of young players make important mistakes and they cost us. Providing the lads learn, grow and develop then that is the most important thing.
“In the end with four or five big players out we are showing that the squad hasn’t got the depth to win these games. Any squad at our level with four or five players out missing is going to struggle to some degree.
“They tightened up their back four, they had players sitting in midfield and they made it difficult to break through.
“Doncaster have an experienced side and they made it difficult even though we showed the desire to get back into the game in the second half.
“Jeffrey Monakana naively gave away the free-kick for the second goal and the penalty for the third goal was debatable. The penalty put the game to bed but it wasn’t really the issue, at 2-0 we were already struggling to get back into the match.
“You don’t want to pin their learning as the only reasons for our failures. When young players are coming in and don’t quite get things right such as a man getting free which young Will Hayhurst should have stayed with for the corner.
“We have those two, Nicky Wroe, Lee Holmes and Jack King went down over night. With those five lads missing we were dependant today on two or three young players.
After the game, the North End boss said: “We have struggled along since we lost Keith Keane and Scott Laird and we have five big players out of our team.