Chichester City boss: Wins will come if errors are cut out
Chichester City boss Miles Rutherford says there was much to admire in their performance at Bowers and Pitsea despite the game ending in their second straight defeat.
And he insisted they weren’t going to start panicking or doing things differently just because of a couple of setbacks.
The 2-1 loss at Bowers – which followed an identical result at Cray Valley PM a week earlier – came as they played 50 minutes with ten men after new loanee Finlay Chadwick picked up two yellow cards.
Bowers scored a goal in each half – both from City errors – before Billie Clark pulled one back from the spot in stoppage time.
City are 11th in the table – still comfortable after a good start to their first step three campaign – and make the long trek to Plymouth Parkway in the first round of the FA Trophy on Saturday.
Rutherford said: “We were happy with our performance on Saturday – we felt we played really well.
"But there were four crucial moments in the game and every one of them was a Chichester mistake.
"There was a bad pass for their first goal, we had a men sent off in the first half for what I’d call two lazy challenges, missed a glorious chance before half-time, then gave away a silly free-kick and didn’t track the runner for it for their second goal.
“There were crucial errors at both ends and that was frustrating as we felt we were the better side with 11 on the pitch and even with only ten.
"We were really upset to come away with nothing.”
Rutherford said they’d continue to work hard on cutting out the basic mistakes. But the management also want the players to keep doing all the good things they’d been showing on the pitch.
"If we keep playing like we have been, we will get results,” he added.
"We’re happy with where we are. The players know mistakes are costing us but we’re not on a downer or feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Rutherford said they’d hoped the long trip to face Parkway – who play in the Southern League – would turn into a good day of team-bonding. And he said progression to the second round of the FA Trophy would be fantastic for the club.