Badshot Lea manager Gavin Smith post-Leatherhead

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00:00A tough 4-0 defeat against Leatherhead who are pushing for the play-offs. Damage done

00:05in the first 30 minutes there, really, wasn't it?

00:08First five. First five because the start is nowhere near good enough and that is a complete

00:16lack of inexperience because we've took kick-off, played it to Luke who probably should have

00:21dealt with it quicker but for me I'm not playing that ball to him anyway on a bobbly pitch

00:25where he's getting pressed immediately. Didn't deal with it quick enough and they score within

00:31what minute?

00:3235 seconds.

00:33Yeah, so we're one down, uphill battle, we take kick-off and we do exactly the same thing

00:38as we've just done but go the other way. Different full-back, thinks he's got ages, gets blocked

00:44and it just gave them a leg-up of like this is going to be easy because they ain't good

00:48enough and we've been good without getting results. We haven't deserved the results but

00:53we've been good where you could say if we took that chance or we'd done that and we've

00:58competed but today we've been the downfall of our defeat if I'm honest. They were better

01:06than us obviously but we've contributed to them going in front early 2-0 just by doing

01:13stupid decisions in the first, you know, and we haven't done that and it reminded me of

01:19the start of the season. We've gone back miles today just with the approach of the

01:26game and we noticed it in the warm-up, a lot of people just not focused on the football,

01:32they take that into the start and a team who's looking to get in the play-offs and on a good

01:36run is just going to punish you and bury you and they're not going to let you back in the

01:39game. So we were never in it and then obviously we go 3-0 down and the thing is the third

01:45one it's gone out of play. Linesman's talking to Vick when it's gone out of play but you

01:49knew the desire, I said the desire their lad had to score, was it Anwar? Karim. So the

01:56desire Karim had to score that goal, we ain't doing that because someone's going to worry

02:00about getting out. They wanted it, we haven't got that and 3-0 down at half-time and we

02:07were 3-0 down against them last year and we had a go and we come back to 3-2. Different

02:11team but I was hoping we might do something but they let us play really, they didn't have

02:18to do anything. We looked alright, we looked better, we looked composed but that was more

02:22to the fact they'd already won the game and then we conceded at the end down to 10 and

02:26George looks like he's got a nasty injury which is a real shame for him because he's

02:29had a really good season. Probably went in for something he didn't need to go in for

02:34and yeah, don't look great. We'll see how he is but he's been excellent this year and

02:39that'll be disappointing for him. Yeah, as I say, he had to come off and he looked like

02:42he had crutches as well. Yeah, of course that's a little bit precautionary but it doesn't

02:47sound good. He's felt something pop so I'm hoping it's not too bad for him. The only

02:53saving grace is if it's nothing too serious, he'll be back for him at the start of next

03:01season. Whatever he's doing, he's not going to miss loads of games. Yeah, and obviously

03:06near the end of the season. Yeah. So, being competitive recently, today was a step back.

03:11You said you sensed it in the warm-up even beforehand and I guess obviously you don't

03:16come out of the blocks. Yeah, it's just the lack of turning up, focus, you're here to

03:21play football, people who are subs chatting like it don't mean anything and then going

03:26on the pitch and not being good enough. I've seen, the thing is, they've got some ability

03:33but they can't, the game's where it matters and they can't do it at the minute. They need

03:38to learn. Whether that's playing in a league where they can be more competitive and they

03:42can start winning, which some of them might think that they're good enough for this level

03:46but results and table says differently and what they do on the pitch and their decision

03:50making says differently. But they have got the technical ability but they haven't got

03:56the three things that Vic goes on about. Just that little bit of hunger to want to do well

04:02for one and compete, win second balls, do all the nasty stuff and really want to win

04:07games of football. It's just the showing up, I'll play for 90 minutes and then next year

04:11I might move on somewhere else. It ain't going to happen because they're not doing enough

04:16for someone to go, I want him. You can have technical ability but you've got to do that

04:20other stuff to earn the right. You have to earn the right and like I said, no one in

04:24the first 10 minutes showed their opponent what they were about and I'm going to put

04:28you under pressure and I'm going to be stronger than you and I'm going to be more physical

04:31and I'll beat you in the air and I'll beat you in the tackle. They all just rolled over

04:35in the first 10 minutes and just let them dictate what was going to happen in the game.

04:39And that's what you get with experience and playing senior football, I get that. But it's

04:45disappointing to watch because for me, that's the easy bit to do. The easy bit is doing

04:50that, competing. It's not hard to do that, anyone can go out there, run around and compete.

04:56But they seem to think their ability is just going to get them through games and it doesn't.

05:00Obviously, you've never had four of your former players who are all really good players

05:04here and obviously two of them got on the score sheet. You obviously knew them and obviously

05:10knew what they were all about and obviously the quality that they had.

05:14They're good players but did I look at them and go, they're amazing? No, they just did

05:18the basics well today. I didn't look at one of them and go, like George Juan Izedas, he

05:25cleared the ball, he defended well, which you'd expect a defender to do. I didn't look

05:28at any of them and go, wow, Kareem held the ball up well as a centre-forward. It wasn't

05:37amazing, they won the game in the first five or ten minutes and then really just had an

05:42easy afternoon.

05:43I'd say better in the second half, but Levehead were 3-0 up and were probably sort of managing

05:49the game.

05:50Yeah, it was very reminiscent. Do you remember when we played Farnham in the first game of

05:52the season and we started alright, they got a penalty, scored, scored again, scored again,

05:56game done. You come in and go, there's only one way you can go is to get better, but you

06:01get better. The other team don't need to do anything and I felt we were good second half

06:06against Farnham, but that was because they didn't have to do anything. It's when it matters.

06:11We let ourselves down. They're young, I thought, and it is harsh, but they need to learn from

06:18that, like Luke dwelling on the ball a little bit. It wasn't easy to deal with, I get that,

06:21but he's had a really good game again. Luke's come in at left-back from the youth team and

06:26for me he's been the standout, just with his hunger to want to impress. Sometimes you're

06:34born with that, you've got it in you. Can you get that out of people, finding it quite

06:38difficult to make them realise that's what you need.

06:42Obviously that's 15 points behind South Park now, six games left.

06:46It's done. I've tried to be optimistic and go, well, if we can win, if we can win. Then

06:52we won Saturday and I was like, right, we're going to the Hartley game. We weren't doing

06:55particularly well. Winnable game, lose, don't turn up really. Then today we just not turned

07:03up again and I wouldn't put it past us now winning a couple of games because there's

07:07no pressure.

07:12We are where we are. I've been pleased with some performances. People have grown this

07:16year. George, like I said earlier, George has got better and better as the season's

07:19gone on. He's made less mistakes. Cal coming back in has been good. They've formed a good

07:25partnership. So we've been building something and it's just disappointing now that we always

07:31knew we probably would, without being a defeatist, but it's crossed my mind we're going to get

07:37relegated and it looks that way and it's disappointing, but maybe it goes to show where

07:42we need to be in order to have some success. Because if we started again next year, we'd

07:47probably be with these boys at the same level, maybe a couple of other players. No one's

07:51going to want to join a team that's struggling. We could have been in for another season of

07:57a real battle where you feel like you're not getting anywhere. So a reset might be needed.

08:06Build a new group like we did. We had the group that we built. We did well for two seasons,

08:10got promoted. We kept half of them for the following season. Disappointing they've left.

08:13So maybe that might be our cycle, but we need to look at that as a club and go, right, I've

08:19no doubt someone could have come in and put together a team that might have stayed up

08:23because that's not... It was just the way we started the season. Not having a group

08:29together for the majority of pre-season, starting badly and then just chasing our tails for

08:34the whole... Maybe for half a season, I do feel we've become more competitive. Today

08:40wasn't one of them days. But yeah, the group's pretty good.

08:44And obviously you can plan well for next season, can't you? And obviously the All Shots in

08:49your cup, that's been a competition. It's been good to you.

08:52Yeah, yeah. There'll be no easy game on Tuesday against Tadley because they'll be a good side

08:57and it'll show us, it'll show the lads that if they can't win that game against a Step

09:03Five team, it'll show us where we really are. Because it's all right competing every

09:08week at Step Four, a lot of teams could do that. If you play a team from the league below

09:13and you don't beat them, which we've had before, you then go, well, maybe we're a Step Five

09:17team. But we'll go there, try and win, try and get in a semi-final against Westfield,

09:24which again, if we get there, would be a tough game and we won't be expected to win it. But

09:30Tuesday's important, really.

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