Following Old Carey’s 0-1 loss away to Ashburton, senior coach Alex De La Torre gave his thoughts on the match.
On the performance…
I was very proud of the players and their effort on the weekend. There were many factors that could have been seen as reasons for failing to perform. A strong opponent, recently relegated and in good form, tough conditions to play in, particularly having to defend when going into the very strong wind in the first half, and having a man sent off very early into the second half would have broken many other teams. That we forced them onto the back foot on a number of occasions in the second half and that they only secured the 3 points minutes from the fulltime whistle with a deflected goal, said a lot about the group’s character.
On being forced to play defensive…
Not my preferred style but different occasions will call for different responses. I have been delighted that the players have taken on board much of what the coaching staff is trying to teach them with respects to defending as a group. Week by week, we will continue to improve in relation to our defensive duties and we will become a very difficult team to beat. The next step of course is to become a very offensive team while still keeping our defensive structures.
On Ayman’s red card…
Not something I could control at the time, so there was no point arguing the point or getting overly animated. I was more concerned with getting the remaining 10 players focused on the job at hand. Was he unlucky to be sent off? Possibly, but the refs do a difficult job and they don’t always get everything right.
On your view of the goal…
Didn’t have a great view of it I must admit. We were just a little late to close the midfield boy down and he got his shot away. On another day, the deflection may have taken the shot away from goal. A cruel way to lose the game given how much effort was put in by all the players. Hopefully we will become stronger from it.
On failing to take their chances…
That is an area where we can definitely make improvements. Had we taken the one or two clear chances we had early in the second half and led say 1-0 or 2-0, I doubt they would have been able to peg us back, even with 10 men.
On the impact of the Ashburton pitch/wind…
They are very tricky conditions indeed. Although we rode our luck on several occasions in the first half into the wind, I also thought that we defended very well on the numerous set pieces and long throw-ins they had and for the most part, we didn’t panic . We also kept the ball on the deck with the wind in the second half which was also very pleasing. Now we need to go home and manage our perfect conditions just as well 
On the importance of this week’s game…
The next month becomes crucial for us and this week’s game is the first of 4 that I am looking to get something out of. I will definitely be challenging the players to turnaround a losing streak of 8 games at home that stretches back to round 9 of 2009. It’s not a great stat and it has to change. I am excited about having the opportunity to turn things around and I hope that the players are too.
