We weren’t good enough - boss

PAUL Dickov bemoaned the way his side failed to perform at Walsall, as his last game in charge of Athletic faded to another desperate defeat.

Despite taking the lead through Lee Barnard’s excellent header, the Banks’s Stadium visitors became disjointed after the first half-hour and deservedly succumbed to the in-form Saddlers.

Dickov felt his team was unfortunate not to have been awarded a penalty on either occasion when Chris Iwelumo and then Barnard were apparently fouled in the penalty area in the first half.

But ultimately he felt his team didn’t do enough to merit taking three points.

“We started the game ever so well, did the right things with and without the ball and got our noses in front,” Dickov said. “Then we stopped doing it. Over the course of the whole game, we weren’t good enough — nowhere near.

“But at 1-0, if we had got either of those penalties and gone 2-0 up, it would have been a completely different game.”

“I saw a lot of desire and passion (against Liverpool) but I didn’t get that from everyone here. The goals we conceded were awful.

“I said to the players what’s the point of the defensive work I and Paul Gerrard put on in training if once they cross the white line, they do whatever they want to do?”