It was another case of all bark, no bite at Huish Park yesterday as the goalless run at home extended to three games. Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the match, Darren Sarll talked about the struggle to score goals, again.
“I think its a true reflection of what we are and where we are in this moment in time. I think good sides in any division can score really bad goals, really poor goals, where it makes it look too easy. Look we try really hard every week and we really struggle to score goals. I think that’s an art in itself.
“We had two really good chances from four yards today and I think we’ve had the ball in the box more times than we have in recent weeks. It’ll turn,” he said.
The manager was pleased with the first half performances, but was disappointed with how his side executed their tactics in the second half.
He said: “I was really pleased in the first half. I thought we utilised the assets of Wakefield and Olomola very very well. I was pleased with how Lawson and Dale were feeding [the forwards, I guess?]. I was disappointed in second half, because even though the wind was quite strong against us, I thought that should have played in to our hands – being able to play harder, faster, longer passes into good positions and using the athleticism of Olomola and Wakefield.
That was my biggest disappointment of the game tactically; that we didn’t carry those instructions through and those encouraging signs through from the first half to the second. Again, we could have easily been three or four up, but it’s very hard to keep justifying that when it’s week in – week out.”
Asked about the mistakes that were creeping in over the course of the last couple of matches, Sarll said that’s where the team are in their development, but added that Luke Wilkinson and Josh Staunton have been playing injured for a couple of weeks and that others are putting their bodies on the lines at the moment.
As for the rest of the season and beyond, the manager said he might a bit experimental to avoid dying ‘the same death every week.’
“I think with the position we’re in, I think we’ve probably got enough grace and we’ve got enough time where we can probably be a little bit more experimental now. Otherwise, I think we might die the same death every week and we might see the same mistakes every week.”
He added that the injuries to players “might be the acceleration that we need in order to try something new until the end of the season. There’s nothing to lose. All of these things that we put into the players, even if we change shape, they’re all good learnings for next season.”