"We weren't at our best," concedes Maynard
Updated: Dec 6, 2022
Stuart Maynard was gutted following Wealdstone’s 2-0 reverse at local rivals Barnet.
In a game of few chances, his side failed to take theirs, Barnet took theirs and the Stones boss reflected on "just one of those days".
“I thought the big moments in the game we didn't take,” said Maynard. “I thought especially in the second half, Fels [Olufela Olomola] has had two great opportunities from six yards out which he normally takes but it just was one of those days. It didn't quite happen for us.
"Their first goal comes from [when] we play the man on, and we've got to make sure we're stood in front of that and stop that. It's little bit naïve. We're a young group, we've come far. I appreciate all the support today from the fans, it was outstanding again.
"It's a shame that we couldn't reward them with what we wanted in three points but, in football, you can't get too high when we go away at York and winning in the 96th minute and we can't get too low today. We've got to be consistent over the course of the season and we will be as a group.”
There was a big call shortly after the first Barnet goal. Tarryn Allarakhia went down while driving into the Bees’ box, but the referee gave a free kick instead of a penalty. Despite the close call, Maynard feels that the Stones got what they deserved.
“When we watch it back on the video it's a penalty,” said Maynard, “but it's hard to say to the ref that it is. From his angle it can look in or out and they’re the big moments at times you need to go your way and in football at our level especially they’re the little bits of luck because we don’t have VAR. They’re little bits of luck that you need to go your way.
“If we get that penalty the game's totally different but look, we can't be relying on little bits of luck like that we've got to make sure that we have total control of the game to make sure that we get the points and deserving the points, today. I just don’t think we were at our best.”
The second goal just after half-time was a killer blow for Maynard’s side.
“It’s something we said at half time, we're not in a rush to go and get the equaliser, we've got to be patient we've got to be calculated with how that we go and attack them and now we can pick them off and open them up,” said Maynard, “I thought we did pin them back, I don't think they got out of their half much, other than long clearances and nothing balls up to their front man to Kabamba really who worked his socks off for them.”
“You've got to give credit to them, they've got the three points today. Sometimes the law of averages, we've beaten them twice last season, it's just the way it goes in football, it's horrible to say it and it's devastating at the minute for the fans, especially because of what it means to everyone at our football club, but the way football goes we’ve just got to bounce back.”
*Pictures by Jon Taffel