Manager Paul Cox believes it is time for him to become ruthless with his players, following today’s 2-1 defeat to Morecambe at One Call Stadium.
The Shrimps, who trailed to Ross Dyer’s early goal for us, snatched all three points courtesy of Kevin Ellison’s brave close-range header with just five minutes remaining.
“I don’t think Morecambe won the game. I think we lost the game,” said our boss.
“We shouldn’t have let them get back in the game at all. We were 1-0 up, under no pressure at all, and it’s basic fundamental errors that have cost us.
“I don’t know what is getting into players’ minds, but some of our decision making wasn’t good enough.
“I don’t know if they feel under pressure, but with two or three minutes to go before half-time, we were giving the ball away on the edge of our own box.”
Cox continued: “So we’ve got to go back to basics. Sometimes you’ve got to win a game ugly and I’m sure our supporters and everyone else wouldn’t mind if we won ugly.
“I’d have been happy today if we won this game 1-0. All we needed to do was be disciplined, keep our shape and be mentally strong.”
“But if you analyse the last three games, some of the goals we have conceded aren’t [from] great creative play or anything like that, they are bad fundamental mistakes.
“We need to stop our run. [Players] have had a fair crack of the whip, so now I need to be ruthless. If changes need to be made then I’m going to make them – it’s as simple as that.”
Our side could have snatched all three points after we were awarded a spot-kick when Morecambe keeper Barry Roche fouled Junior Daniel inside the area.
However, the Shrimps custodian, who was unfortunate not to be shown a red card for the offence, saved Sam Clucas’ resulting spot-kick.
“I’m sick of talking about referee’s decisions. It’s not about that, it’s about making basic errors,” said Cox.
“At no point in the second half did I feel as though we were under any real pressure, but we’ve got a bit of a soft underbelly at the moment and that needs rectifying.”
He added: “I thought the fans were excellent today. I thought they deserved better and deserved more.”
