| Charlesworth: Just rewards / Still: Didn't take our chances |
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Darren Still's first game in charge of Keith ended in a draw as his side were pegged back by Lossiemouth's injury time equaliser at Grant Park as the clash ended 2-2. The hosts had led through Shawn Scott's opener 15 minutes into the game before Cammy Keith squared things up for the visitors just before the break. Sean Keith put the visitors in front in the second half and just when it look as if the visitors would mark Still's dugout debut with all three points, Sean MacIntosh popped up to grab a leveller for the home side. Here are the thoughts of both managers. Charlie Charlesworth I thought both teams looked in not bad nick fitness-wise considering the lengthy layoff and it turned out to be quite an entertaining game. In the end, I was so delighted for our players because they really have worked hard and stuck to it the the last five or six weeks. Revenge is a strong word but the equaliser was so important - it was a bit of pay back for earlier in the season but more importantly, we didn't lose by the odd goal again which has been a recent trend. I have challenged the lads to improve on the first half of the season's tally and that is a good start toward that. Keith started brighter than us but the back four were doing a good job. We came into it as we found our feet and throughout the game I thought we looked dangerous on the break as we went forward in numbers. We were forcing a number of corners until we scored from one with a great overhead kick from Biscuits (Shawn Scott). Keith kept probing and scored a poor goal from our point of view on the stroke of half time when we didn't deal with a through ball well enough. In the second half, Keith upped the ante a bit and had the sort of possession I was hoping for but we were working hard as always. They scored their second when we broke in numbers and I think we were five or six on three but the move broke down and they hit us on the counter. As the clocked ticked down, I changed personnel and formation a couple of times and right at the death Seany (MacIntosh) hit a sweet shot from 20 yards in off the post. It was a great strike and for me, just rewards for the lads and everybody involved at the club. There is still a lot of work to do but the lads are giving me lots of confidence because they are so eager to win games. Darren Still On the whole, the dressing room was disappointed after the game because we had to settle for a point. I thought we were well on top in the second half and had chances to kill the game off. If you don't take these chances and pick the right options when you are in wide areas they you are always going to leave yourself open to teams getting a chance late on and that is exactly what happened. The guy took his chance but it seemed to take about four or five bobbles as it went across the face of goal and another four or five bobbles before it went in and it was disappointing to lose a goal so late. We had chances although some of the guys who were involved with those chances actually had really good individual games. It would have put the icing on the cake for a couple of performances if we had taken the chances we had created to kill the game. Sean Keith did well and I emphasised to him before the game what I was looking for from him. He came in and he had a decent game and worked hard. His work rate can sometimes be questioned. There is certainly no doubting his ability but he worked hard yesterday and that augers well for him. Phil McCall and Sean are two guys who have done well for me in the under-21s. I looked at that and gave them their opportunity, although Phil got his opportunity because Derek Nicol was suspended. Phil grabbed it with a nice, solid performance though when he came in at centre half alongside Kris Niddrie. |
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