We will lick our wounds

Last updated : 30 December 2008 By Tony Scholes
Sean O'Driscoll has seen his side struggle for goals all season but they've hit six over the festive season including the two against the Clarets, and that's lifted them within one good result of climbing out of the bottom three.

He said: "We started the game off the boil, but we got better as the game went on and were a threat all afternoon. Burnley have some good players and were never going to throw the towel in, but I thought we did well and could have had more goals to show for our performance.

"They were still a threat when they were down to ten men and I knew it wasn't going to be a rout, but it could have been all over much earlier if their keeper hadn't made some good saves."

Owen Coyle has told his side that they can't expect to keep going behind and coming back in games and said we had once again shot ourselves in the foot.

"We can't keep giving ourselves a mountain to climb by going behind in games and chasing them. Let's get in front and kick on from there and make my life so much easier. I felt very comfortable in the game at 0-0 and we had two or three great opportunities to score.

"But the first goal is there for everyone to see and it is self inflicted. I can hold my hand up if we are beaten by good play, but that wasn't the case and we shot ourselves in the foot.

"I thought Stephen Jordan could possibly have done better and Clarke Carlisle totally misjudged the ball. I played as a striker and I would have loved the lay off he gave their lad six yards out.

"Then we switched off and the referee has given a penalty. I have no arguments that there was contact, but I thought it was harsh to give a red card when there were a few players about the incident.

"At 2-0 down and ten men it was important to get them in at half time and talk to them at length. I knew with the group we've got that we could make a game of it.

"We scored an unbelievable goal and I felt if the ball had just bounced another way, or we'd sown enough guile, then we could have salvaged a point.

"It has not been an enjoyable few days, but we will lick our wounds. We have to realise that as disappointing as the last two games have been, we are fifth in the table and in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, so we have an unbelievable second half of the season to look forward to.

"We just have to keep cutting out the individual errors because we know we have potential match winners. We just have to make sure we are doing our jobs individually and collectively to get to the standards we have set.

"The players are annoyed with themselves because they never reached the standards they have set. Whether that's because of the amount of games they have played that is something I will look at and try to address.

"It didn't help that Kevin McDonald, who was scheduled to play, felt his groin from the other day. There's a couple of players with niggles that we need to look at, but we will pick ourselves up. There's a lot to look forward to and that's what I will make sure their focus is on."