Skelmersdale United must improve after they were handed their fourth straight defeat says manager Richard Brodie.
They fell behind after just nine minutes when a mistake handed the hosts the lead. Sam Sheen’s deflected effort restored parity before the break.
Both sides failed to test either ‘keeper on multiple occasions as they traded blows in either half through Elliot Morris and Tom Peterson respectively. However, Wyll Stanway and Sam Ashton were both on hand to thwart the danger.
The two sides were separated by a direct corner as Ben Hodkinson’s delivery squeezed in to hand the Bucks the win.
“I thought the game as a whole was dreadful, anyone who watched it would tell you the same if not they’ve watched a different game to me,” Brodie told Off The Park.
“I spoke to Ste there, neither team deserved to win but neither team deserved to lose it either, the only way we was going to get beat by a set-piece and we did.
“Again, we conceded the first 10 minutes and you’re chasing it again, just mistakes costing us and I think nine out of last 10 games have lost conceding the first goal, we’re conceding the first goal consistently.
MATCH REPORT: Bootle 2-1 Skelmersdale United: Hodkinson scores direct from a corner to sink Skem in uneventful win
“We need to be better, we need to be a lot lot better in possession, not so much out of it, when we’re in possession, we’re making the wrong decisions, giving the ball away then from corners and free-kicks put them under pressure but we didn’t put any quality in the box.”
Max McCarthy tried his luck from 18 yards after good work from Sam Turner on the left but the on-loan striker blazed over. In the dying minutes, the striker was sent off in the aftermath of a melee.
But the match was largely uneventful, despite Skelmersdale United pushing for the equaliser towards the end.
He added: “I stick up for my players because I love them to bits but sometimes maybe I’m too nice at times, I’m learning as well and sometimes they have to take responsibility themselves they have to make better decisions on the ball.
“I’ve seen them do it in training but you have to take it into a Saturday afternoon because you get no medals on a Tuesday or Thursday, you have to come on Saturday and turn up, today they haven’t really turned up.
‘Although we’ve had good possession, we kept giving it away and they kept giving us it back, it was awful, I’m not looking to watching the video back and I think they need to have a long look at themselves because there’s no hiding places in football, next week we have to go again and put it right.
“From our side, I think decision-making and quality in the final third,” the Skem boss noted for his side’s improvement. “I think possession would be 70 [percent] to 30 in our favour and we didn’t make the right decisions.
“Ultimately we didn’t create enough chances to win the game and they didn’t either, I think the goal, Sam [Ashton] said it was a foul and nine times out of 10 it’s a foul on him and it gets give in their favour and this time it hasn’t.
“We’ve lost another game, there’s no hiding places in football and we have to bounce back, realise that sometimes you have to win horrible.”
