Draper: Our tactics were wrong (From Droitwich Advertiser)

Draper: Our tactics were wrong

9:10am Wednesday 6th February 2013 in Sport By Peter McKinney

BROMSGROVE Sporting joint-boss Keith Draper admits he and managerial partner Graham Scott made mistakes after their 3-1 loss to title rivals Littleton on Saturday.

Sporting’s hopes of winning the Midland Combination Premier championship were left hanging by a thread after the defeat.

While the Rouslers still top the table, their lead over Littleton was cut to four points.

The second-placed side also have five matches in hand over the Victoria Ground outfit.

Draper admitted his side paid the price for a conservative formation.

He said: “We decided to go with a 4-5-1 formation and keep things tight in the first-half and then step it up in the second but we made two horrendous errors and gifted Littleton two goals.

“We got one back in the second-half and were the better side but we were chasing the game.

“People said afterwards we gave Littleton too much respect, which they deserved because of their league position, but we made a mistake in terms of the system.

“We had agonised all week over how to approach the match and we thought we’d stay solid.

“Chris Morrison had a back injury, Chris Conway was only just back in training after several months out and Jon Rogers had not played a lot of games so we were struggling for options “You live and die your by decisions and we didn’t get it right for this game.

The manager, while not conceding the title, felt his side’s hopes were hit hard by Saturday’s defeat.

He said: “I never said we could win the title but when you put yourselves in a good position it is incredibly disappointing to lose a game like this.

“I’ve never been so low during my time at the club, this defeat has hit Graham (Scott) and myself very hard.

“You’ve got to be positive, we targeted a top 10 place and inclusion in the FA competitions at the start of the season and we’re on track for those.”

Sporting entertain fifth-placed Nuneaton Griff on Saturday (3pm ko).