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Akrigg left frustrated despite late equaliser

Akrigg left frustrated despite late equaliser

Callum Chadwick11 Oct 2017 - 22:30
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Joint boss offers his reaction to Widnes' 2-2 draw away at Barnton

Widnes joint manager Steve Akrigg was left frustrated by his side's 2-2 draw at Barnton on Wednesday night, despite watching his players fight back from a 2-0 half-time deficit to rescue a point.

Akrigg and Kev Towey's side recovered from Christopher Smith's penalty and Jack Irlam's header that gave Barnton a 2-0 lead. Jay Roberts quickly reduced the arrears early in the second half before substitute Tony Donaldson netted his first Widnes goal inside second half stoppage time to level the scoreline.

Despite heavy Widnes pressure throughout the game forcing a succession of chances, Widnes lacked a killer instinct in front of goal that would have put Akrigg and Towey's side out of sight.

It is the second consecutive game that Widnes have fought back to earn a share of the spoils. The Whites were 2-1 down at Northwich Victoria on Saturday before Andy Gillespie's late leveller.

"To be honest, we gave away two very sloppy goals from our point-of-view," Akrigg said.

"The penalty was soft but it was the correct decision. The second goal simply wasn't good enough from an organisational point-of-view. Two lads are unmarked and if the first one doesn't head it in, the lad behind him has a simple tap-in.

"We told the lads how we felt at half-time and the response in the second half was obviously better.

"We've fought back to equalise late on again, which shows good character to get back into games and earn results but we can't be giving sides head starts.

"In both games, you can't say that we haven't had numerous chances. Barnton had three or four tonight but have two goals to show for it. We seem to be getting into the right positions but our decision-making has let us down too many times. That needs to be improved."

Akrigg and Towey haven't been afraid to rotate their squad since being appointed joint managers last week, with competition for places being something that the joint bosses welcome moving forward.

He said: "We've given lads the chance to impress. If you don't take your chance, you can't really complain to me or Kev.

"Ultimately, it is up to us to choose the system and the line-up. We have to take responsibility when it goes wrong like in the first half.

"But you can't really look at the goals we conceded tonight as a formation or personnel issue. It's simply a lack of communication.

"Going forward, we're creating chances but not turning chances into goals often enough so we have two things to work on and we have to get them right to win football matches."

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