NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: St Neots Town boss determined to stick to his footballing beliefs
St Neots Town manager Barry Corr. Picture: DAVID R. W. RICHARDSON/RICH IN VIDEO 2019 - Credit: Archant
St Neots Town manager Barry Corr is determined not to sacrifice his footballing principles.
Corr's side were beaten 3-0 at Barton Rovers in the Southern League Division One Central last Saturday.
Saints struggled to pull off their creative style of play on a dreadful surface, but Corr is determined not to fall into the trap of resorting to a long-ball approach.
Corr said: "It was definitely a disappointing day, but it certainly wasn't a 3-0 game by any means.
"I'll be critical of myself and I would go as far as saying it was my fault we lost the game.
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"We got there and saw the state of the pitch, and I probably should have asked the boys to be a bit more pragmatic and not try to play as much football.
"But, on the other hand, that is the way we want to do things and it is also our strength.
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"It is difficult to pull off when you need four or five touches just to get the ball under control, though.
"Should I have just said 'right, lets go long' instead?
"But if we do that we are probably playing into the hands of other teams.
"The principles we have are to play football. Maybe we could have been a bit thoughtful of the pitch and be a bit more direct, but it's a learning curve.
"We do our work in training which is all based about high intensity football with lots of ideas and imagination.
"So turning up on a Saturday, seeing a bad pitch and only kicking it long is not what I want to do."
Lee Watkins saw a strong penalty appeal ignored in the first half before a Sam Gomarsall strike was ruled out for offside.
Saints then fell behind from a set-piece two minutes into the second period and were then killed off by two further Barton goals in the closing stages.
Corr's third-bottom side return to their home turf this Saturday when entertaining play-off chasers Thame United at the Premier Plus Stadium, 3pm.
"A friend of mine has seen Thame play a couple of times," added Corr. "I'm told they are a decent team with a dangerous front two so that's something we'll need to be aware of at all times."
