Switching off at the death cost us

Latics’ assistant manager writes every week for Chron Sport
IT was absolutely gutting to lose to an injury-time goal in the 1-0 defeat at Stevenage.

We matched our hosts throughout the contest with effort and endeavour, but switching off at the death cost us dearly.

Up until that point we had coped with everything they produced and defended very well. The lads all felt sick afterwards.

We have definitely played worse than that and won this season, but this happens in football. The better team doesn’t always win and that applied to Tuesday.

There is no getting away from the fact that we should undoubtedly have been awarded a penalty at the end of the game for a blatant handball.

We must have watched the DVD footage of the incident 25 times, slowed it down, paused it, you name it we’ve done it.

The referee was stood in the wrong position, which didn’t help matters, but he still would have seen the incident.

However, it only hammers home the point that you cannot rely on referees to get you results.

Next up is another big game, the derby trip to Spotland where we face neighbours Rochdale tomorrow.

Like ourselves, they are not on the best run at the moment so it is going to be an interesting clash.

They always seem to have goals in them, and both sides will be desperate to secure all three points.

I am sure we will enjoy the backing of a lot of our fans which is always appreciated and makes a big difference.

It could be quite a similar game to the Stevenage match, as Rochdale work extremely hard and make you fight for every ball.

We need to pick the lads up and get them ready to go again tomorrow as we look to return to winning ways.

Matt Smith has joined Macclesfield on loan, where I think he can gain vital experience.

He had gone a bit stale here mainly due to the fact he was not starting games.

Looking at the remaining fixtures, we could not see an opportunity for him to be in the starting XI.

This loan stint will do him the world of good because he can build up his fitness and confidence, and experience more first-team football.

We had to be fair to Matt by giving him the opportunity to get more minutes on the pitch.

It suits all parties because whatever he picks up at Macclesfield will benefit us next season when we have him back.