LEAMINGTON boss Paul Holleran assessed the Brakes’ ‘bigger picture’ after falling to Brackley’s National League North title bid on Monday.
Connor Hall and Gareth Dean scored in each half to make sure they stayed on Kidderminster’s tail heading into the last game of the season.
Holleran was disappointed but said there have been plenty of encouraging moments over the season – with Leamington 16th in the table and well clear of the relegation zone.
The Brakes manager told the club’s official website: “We’ve had good spells in the game. The first goal was avoidable. I think at the start of the second half, we came out of the blocks, got on the front foot and asked a few questions, got Owen away a few times, got some good crosses into the box. The second goal has killed us really. It was a poor restart from us and we’ve lost a man on the set play.
“They were the better team, there’s no doubt about that. We huffed and puffed. It’s a shame really because we’ve had some really good spells in the division this year, some good runs, and it’s just a shame now that late on when you were hoping we could just keep the levels up, nick a few results and get the points tally up – we haven’t been able to do it to be honest. I don’t think it’s through a lack of effort.
“Looking at the bigger picture, we’ve stepped over half the squad up to this level who haven’t played at this level before; we’ve tried to get as much as we can out of the boys that have been with us for a long time – they’ve ran themselves into the ground again all season.
“We got found out a little bit with probably the depth of the squad in the last five or six weeks of the season. Overall, we finished 15-16 points behind Needham Market last season.
“We’ve finished 15-16 points ahead of them this year. The fact that we have stepped these players up, the fact of how well we’ve competed, how well we’ve done at home this year, we’ve put another player into League One again – there’s lots of plusses, and I certainly don’t want the last month to take away how well the group has done. It’s certainly not a lack of application.
“I think we’ve been a bit stretched, we’ve made some poor decisions. There are quite a few tired legs and tired minds out there at the moment, and maybe a few weeks ago my targets I set for them were maybe too ambitious, I don’t know. But they’re a super group and they’ve done really well this year. We’ll try and finish with a good performance at Curzon Ashton.”
Relegated Rushall Olympic went down 3-1 at Oxford City – with Theo Williams scoring for the Pics just before the hour mark.
But manager Richard Sneekes said the same shortcomings held his side back.
Sneekes told the club’s official YouTube channel: “Some still had the effects from playing on Friday.
“These are the sort of things that people don’t see, but you don’t want to use them as excuses.
“But in the grand scheme of things, it’s extremely difficult when you go into an away game against the team that you know are going to play football.
“At half time, I said to just make sure you know that we’re compact, that we don’t give away too much space. And can we score the next goal? Which we did.
“But then they hit us on the break straight away, that sums everything up.
“I keep saying the same thing over and over again. You might as well put the same interview out because, you know, it sums us up and it’s tough to take.”
