Lennie Lawrence Unhappy At Defensive Errors!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 19/11/2001

"THERE were no days like that last year. When we got beat we got beat, and when we won we won, but that is a black day for us - not because of the performance, but for the absolutely unnecessary squandering of two, vital, vital points."

Lennie Lawrence was not a happy man at the end of the Milwall game and of the two points lost said: "Let's hope at the end of the year they don't come back to haunt us."

A sentiment echoed by the Grimsby fans who saw a Mariners victory snatched from their grasp with only a minute left to play, by sloppy defensive play.

"All the time I was here last season we never surrendered any points in the last five or 10 minutes of games." Lawrence said. "It cost us a point at Bradford in the 87th minute, and this has cost us two points in the 90th minute. It is serious, and in our position it is a crime."

"Over the 90 minutes a draw was probably a fair result. Millwall had a fair few chances, and we did pretty well going forward."

"We didn't defend anywhere near well enough at anytime during the game, but I thought we had got away with it with Michael getting us that goal out of nothing."

"Even with five at the back to try and protect a lead we didn't do the job in our penalty area, so it is absolutely devastating to lose a goal of that nature in our position. We just didn't do that last year, and we've done it twice now and this is the most damaging of all."

"When you are in that situation then you have got to hang on. All you have to do is knock it in the corners, and we couldn't manage it."

"In the seconds before I am taking Bradley Allen off to interrupt the tempo, they play two square passes, a nothing ball comes into our box, everyone is goalside and we can't deal with it. They passed the buck, couldn't deal with the responsibility, and we had a predator like Steve Claridge who is going to take advantage."

"It is massively disappointing, but against that there was some good stuff going forward, and I thought the midfield, especially in the second half, we did very well."

The Grimsby Telegraph report said " The manager, who now has the headache of preparing for a Friday night match at table toppers Burnley, added: "It is heartening that we don't play like a team that is down there, but we will surely stay there if we defend like that."

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