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Akrigg reflects on defeat at Ramsbottom

Akrigg reflects on defeat at Ramsbottom

Callum Chadwick19 Aug 2019 - 16:30
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Mixed feelings for co-boss after opening day defeat

Steve Akrigg admitted that his Widnes side were naive as the 10-man Whites let a two-goal lead slip at Ramsbottom United on Saturday, losing 3-2.

Widnes produced an excellent first-half performance to lead 2-0 but suffered a blow right on half-time as Danny Shaw was sent off for a last man challenge on Iyrwah Gooden.

The Rams would halve Widnes' advantage inside the opening minute of the second half through Nic Evangelinos, and would go on to pick up all three points with goals from Gooden and Ruben Jerome.

Speaking after the game, Akrigg was left to rue missed chances in a game of two halves at the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium.

"I thought we were very good in the first half, but very naive in the second," Akrigg said.

"We started really well and scored two goals through Ben (Hodkinson) and Conor (Ready), and then we created four or five really good chances on top of that.

"Steelie's had two, Lewis (Buckley) has had one and those are goal-scoring opportunities where we were in their box but didn't take them.

"Losing Danny Shaw right on half-time was a massive blow and I don't think there's a worse time to lose a man in that sense as it obviously makes everything harder for the second half.

"What you don't expect is conceding within a minute and then I felt that we sat on the edge of our own box and invited pressure.

"We didn't get close enough for either of their two goals. The first one was a free header and that's a basic. Even with 10-men, you can't afford to lose your man.

"To lose late on is really disappointing. They'll probably feel that they deserved it based on their second-half showing, but it's really frustrating not to come away with anything after an excellent first-half performance."

With a game at home to Droylsden to come in midweek, Akrigg has challenged his players to replicate Saturday's first-half performance for 90 minutes against the Bloods.

"The first-half performance is probably the best I've seen for a really long time," Akrigg said.

"We cut them open a lot and you can see the energy we've got that will cause teams problems.

"Ramsbottom are a side with ambitions to push on this year but I thought that we looked like a side who were going to run away and take the points.

"Obviously things change on a toss of a coin but that first-half performance has got to be a minimum for us moving forward.

"We've seen now that we can produce at a very high standard away from home against a really good side like Ramsbottom and if we can't match that, myself and Kev (Towey) will be asking questions.

"Ultimately, no one away from here will care about how we've played in the first-half because we've lost 3-2, but from our point-of-view, it's a massive positive for us to take away and build on moving forward."

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