Sam Ricketts calls for end to stoppage-time sloppiness at Shrewsbury
Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2019 by PA
Sam Ricketts insists his Shrewsbury side must learn how to stop conceding stoppage-time goals following their 4-3 defeat at Bradford.
Town had battled back from 3-1 down to level three minutes into stoppage time thanks to Fejiri Okenabirhie’s penalty.
But David Ball hit a dramatic last-gasp winner to give the Bantams three crucial points.
Jack Payne opened the scoring with the aid of a deflection in the 19th minute, before Okenabirhie levelled nine minutes later.
Lewis O’Brien restored the lead in the 38th minute after firing in from the edge of the box.
Eoin Doyle put City in firm control in the 61st minute, before Okenabirhie scored twice to draw the visitors level.
“It is very hard to take and I am bitterly disappointed,” said Ricketts.
“That is three injury-time goals that have cost us since I have been in charge, we cannot keep doing that. It cannot keep happening.
“We were not where I wanted to be and we did not play well, but we got back into the game.
“From that point we had to see the game out and we switched off.
“It has cost us and we are getting punished for every little thing. We have to start seeing games out and have better concentration.
“We do not control situations like that well and we are going to have to improve. This is an obvious area where we can improve.
“It is a huge disappointment to concede like that and maybe the FA Cup game at the weekend took something out of us.
“We have had a lot of games recently and maybe it has caught up with us.”
Bradford boss David Hopkin hailed his players’ fighting spirit.
“The stadium was downhearted at 3-3 and the bit of skill from Ball to win it was magnificent,” he said.
“It was a massive performance and we gave everything tonight.
“We kept going in the second half and we made our set-pieces count.
“We were sloppy at the end, but the players stood up and showed character to win the game.
“They deserve plenty of credit and the fans got the perfect reaction. The win was no more than we deserved.
“The team has progressed in recent weeks and the mentality has changed.
“The players are believing in themselves now and to score a winner like that is fantastic.
“I would have been devastated if we had drawn the game, but we showed our quality at the end.
“This is a really important win for us, we could have dropped points but we stood up when we had to.
“We showed guts and the dressing room is delighted, but we have to keep our focus now and enjoying playing games.”
- Tag:
Photos
More»
Meet sexy model Katharina Wehenkel
Friday May 10 2024
Real Madrid takes its influencers to cloud nine after UCL
Friday May 10 2024
Your Say