We weren't at the races

Last updated : 28 December 2010 By Tony Scholes
The Iron boss saw his side in action for the first time in three and a half weeks and said: "It's a long time since we'd had a game. Myself, the staff and the players were desperate to put right the wrongs of the defeat at Millwall in our last game on December 4. It was frustrating but we've put that to bed now with another victory away from home.

"Great credit to the players for the amount of work that they've put in these last three or four weeks. When you're training all the time you want something at the end of it, and the players get frustrated when they're not playing games.

"You can lose your sharpness, your match fitness, and we put on a mini pre-season while we weren't playing to ensure they were fully fit and ready to go. I think that showed on the day too. It was 2-0 and could have been much more.

"If we'd taken care with the final pass through then we could have created more chances too. I'm not sure what Cliff Byrne's goal was disallowed for either, but at least we've won.

"I've got players who have been low on confidence because they've not been getting the results. At times we haven't deserved to get beaten but on this day I thought it was a decent performance and we're all pleased.

"Burnley are a big side and I was worried about set pieces and crosses coming into the box. But Joe Murphy, when he was needed, commanded his box really well and we managed to deal with everything that was thrown at us.

"That was due to a few days of hard work. We knew what Burnley were going to throw at us pretty much, and the lads were focused and disciplined on putting that performance together. We wanted to go for it right from the start because we know we've got players who could cause their back four problems in Jonathan Forte and Chris Dagnall.

"There is no use going to places like this and sitting back because you get picked off. That's what we tried to do and, with a bit more care with the final ball, we might have got more goals from it."

Brian Laws admitted he understood the frustration from the fans after this shabby performance. "I can see they're angry because we are a better team than we showed today and I can only agree with that. I'm not standing here differently. We weren't good enough today. We weren't at the races, and that's everyone.

"We didn't perform as well as we have done. It was only three days ago we were talking about a magnificent performance and great individuals making right decisions, but today we didn't see anything like.

"We were actually stunned that we didn't produce the same kind of performance as three days ago with the same people, the same personnel.

"Ultimately it is my responsibility to get those performances on a regular basis and I didn't get it today so I can understand the supporters' disappointment.

"You can't carry anybody in this division and you certainly can't carry eleven players below par and expect to win. You have to be at your best and today wasn't good enough.

"The pressure for any manager, and particularly for me at this football club, is very clear. We are in a business where we have to win games and today we didn't win, so of course it puts the pressure on. I'm afraid that's the way it is, the law of the land, and you can't dress it up any other way.

"There's disappointment. The supporters pay good money to see good football we are capable of playing and we have produced, but for some reason didn't produced today so we got what we deserved.

"We now have to draw on our experiences and get the players back on track and get back to winning ways. There's a game coming up on Saturday where we have to eradicate this."

Laws reflected: "It's not been a vintage year. it's been a disappointing year. We have had relegation from the best league in the world. Now we want to get back there and the only way to do that is to win games. We haven't done that as regularly as we should have.

"Of all the teams that have come out of the Premier League we have probably been the most consistent and we are the highest ones in the division. But that doesn't take away from the fact that we should be doing better.

"We are under-achieving, which I know, so it hasn't been a good year. We had the chance to put that to bed and today was an opportunity to go on a run which would have catapulted us into the top six. It hasn't happened but we have to take it on to the next one and hopefully get that right."