Darren Sarll said his Yeovil Town side “got what we deserved” from a 1-1 draw against National League bottom club Dover Athletic at Huish Park on Saturday.
The Glovers went behind after a defensive blunder gifted TJ Bramble an opening goal after two minutes in a game affected the after-effects of Storm Arwen.
Adi Yussuf rescued a point when he touched in a Jordan Barnett free-kick after 77 minutes, but the manager said three points would have “papered over the cracks.”
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz,.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, Sarll described the first half performance as “like we were in pre-season, absolute cack.”
He said: “We probably got what we deserved today. Everyone will see Dover in last place and us as a form team and the expectation is a win, but I don’t think our team is built to have the ball.
“We are built to run, chase and compete and it was like role reversal today and we struggled horrendously with that in the first half.”
He singled out his team’s senior players for criticism, in particular Josh Staunton and goalkeeper Grant Smith for their role in the visitors’ early goal.
He said: “Josh has to do better there, he has taken a brilliant amount of credit (for his performances this season) which he deserves and he now needs to take responsibility, and Grant as well.”
Having started with a familiar 4-3-3 formation, the manager switched formation twice in the second half as his side searched for an equaliser.
Initially he reverted to a diamond before switching to three at the back in the closing 15 minutes.
Sarll said: “That is the first time this year we have played three shapes and I said to them at half-time I would keep changing it until I found an attitude I was happy with. I was happy with the attitude in the second half.”
He added: “We adjusted everyone’s attitude at half-time, not in an aggressive or destructive way, we just called them out and they were much better half.”
The point moves Yeovil up to 11th place, extends the unbeaten run to eight first-team matches including the Somerset Premier Cup win at Larkhall Athletic, and means they have collected seven points in the past three matches.
The manager concluded: “We will learn from it and know how to deal with it next time, but we did not get beaten.
“We have probably overachieved this week, definitely this month and so we should not be too disappointed.”