“It’s nice that we haven’t got a team that crumbles when we go 1 or 2-0 down” - Gloucester City boss Mike Cook on Taunton Town draw
Gloucester City manager Mike Cook was happy to see his side come back from 2-0 down through a Brandon Smalley brace to finish 2-2 at the TigerTurf Stadium.
Despite this show of resilience, Cook was clear that there was still clear room for improvement for the Tigers.
He said: “I’m just frustrated with the lads because when you give teams two-goal leads, it’s always uphill from there.
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“It’s almost giving them two goals because I don’t think they earned it, but when you look at the stats, if you have 25 shots off like we had, and they had five, it tells a story.
“It’s nice that we haven’t got a team that crumbles when we go 1 or 2-0 down, and that is a positive because it would be easy to do that.
“They’ve shown a lot of grit and determination with a little bit of quality to get back in the game, then you just needed that third one to finish it off.”
Goals from Tom Smith and Jack Rice-Lethaby put the Peacocks ahead at the break, but City came out in the second half like a completely different side, dominating the game.
Smalley’s brace was enough to claim a draw for the side, but in a week where City’s promotion rivals have also dropped points, it does feel like a missed opportunity.
With Merthyr Town, AFC Totton, Dorchester Town and Havant & Waterlooville all unable to win their respective fixtures, it was the perfect time for City to pick up a win and push on.
Cook said: “As I understand it there have been a couple of results that have gone for us today which is good, but it then grinds on you a little bit that we didn’t pick the three points up instead.
“I’m pleased with 75 per cent of the game, the other 25 per cent we are going to have to work on, we aren’t a bad team I don’t think but we probably just need that little bit extra!”
One huge positive to take from today’s performance was the way in which the Tigers were able to attack once they got going.
Whether they had to go through the middle of the pitch or spread out to the wings, it was seamless for City.
This is especially beneficial when more and more sides come to the TigerTurf Stadium and decide to sit back for 90 minutes.
Cook said: “This is the 10th team that have come here and juts sat back, we’ve got to get used to it, the supporters have got to get used to it, if that’s what they are going to do, we have to move them around.
“I think at times we can be a bit more direct, I don’t think we need to play as much football at times, with Stan coming on it gives you a bit of pace that gets him in behind.
“He’s got a bit of an injury at the moment so he’s not looking at playing 90 minutes which is a tough one, same as Hanks, but we can’t keep playing in front of people and then getting shots off from 30 yards because you aren’t going to score that way.
“You have got to keep playing in front of people and then slide people in which is what we’ve been working on, it was good to see a number of different ways that we are trying to break them down but scoring from it is what we are aiming for.”
Gloucester City: Thompson, Leadbitter, Richards-Everton, Duffus, Emmett, Dawson, Williams, Pinchard, Evans (Hanks 62), Grubb (Anaebonam 70), Smalley. Subs not used: Ball, Crosbie, Richards.
Taunton Town: Gould, Jones (Zebroski 80), Grimes, Smith, Brain (Cummins 70), Moulden, Rice-Lethaby (Purrington 70), Matthews, Nielsen (Hodgson 87), Feltham, Bennett. Sub not used: Woodhouse.
Attendance: 1,032
Referee: Craig Davenport.
