Set-piece woes must stop now

Latics’ assistant manager writes every week for Chron Sport
WE CONCEDED another goal from a set-piece against Huddersfield and that is the main disappointing factor I take away from the game.

Looking back, it is especially galling when you have players covering the post at which the ball went in.

As for the defending or lack of it, Zander Diamond wasn't doing his job as he wasn't marking Anthony Kay. Players are all given jobs and told what to do but that goal was down to individual errors and you can't legislate for those.

We started the game well but after they scored, we panicked a little bit. We started dropping too deep and probably paid them too much respect.

At the end of the half, they finished the stronger side.

We had a chat at the break about it and I thought we started the second half well, before Bradley Diallo was sent off which put us on the back foot again.

It was a game where momentum was going back and forth between the two teams.

In the end, being down to 10 men we were happy with a point but we didn't take the chances that could have provided us with all three points.

Shefki Kuqi scoring on his debut was a massive plus and I think we had at least one or two other good opportunities to score.

Goal aside, Huddersfield didn't trouble us too much apart from Alan Lee's shot against the bar. Other than that, we looked pretty solid.

It has been a great start for Shefki. He is not fully fit, but to start the game and score was great for him.

You could see he ran out of steam a bit in the second half after giving everything he had. That is what he will do for us between now and the end of the season.

Shefki makes the ball stick when it goes into him. That is something we have been missing.

He gives us an added dimension in bringing others into the game, whereas before he arrived we have lacked that.

The other debutant Tom Adeyemi is a fit lad who gets up and down the pitch. He wants to try and get into the box in an attacking sense, too.

He is a great addition and someone who will definitely improve the team.

He is one of a couple of 'rocket scientists' who we have got in the team at the moment and he is a manager's dream.

Tom is no problem in and around the place and does what you ask of him on the training pitch, converting it into matchday.

He listens, learns and wants to improve.

Stevenage will be a totally different game to Huddersfield. It is all about mindset.

Tomorrow's opponents are a club people will expect us to beat simply because they have come up from League Two, whereas Huddersfield are the big spenders who are expected to go up, so nobody gives us a chance.

The reality is, Stevenage are a tough nut to crack. They play a certain style of football that makes it difficult for opponents to break them down. That is why they have got results.

They play percentage football and put pressure on teams. It isn't everyone's cup of tea but they have got results from it.

But they have got some decent footballers in their team as well and it is important not to forget about that.