DORCHESTER Town temporary boss Jody Rivers confessed the Magpies’ 5-1 BetVictor Southern Premier South thrashing at the hands of Tiverton was “the same old story”.
Former Weymouth man Chris Shephard scored a first-half brace to set Tivvy on their way at the Clayson Stadium before captain River Allen curled in a 25-yard pearler.
Klaidi Lolos pulled a goal back for the hosts, finishing off a lightning-fast counter, but Alex Fletcher and Jordan Bastin compounded the Magpies’ misery as the Yellows deservedly moved into first place.
Rivers, whose side now sit in 21st before a Boxing Day clash at Poole, insisted good practices in training had not been transferred to match situations.
He told Echosport: “At the end of the day, we’ve conceded five at home and it’s made me think about how that’s happened – it’s the same old story.
“We look at the tactics, the shape in training. We work on things
and when the game comes round, the players aren’t doing what I’ve asked them to do.
“We worked on blocking shots, real detail into that. The ball’s gone out twice to the edge of the box and it’s gone back into our goal.
“We haven’t pressed it, we haven’t worked on the fine detail and that’s the frustrating thing.”
Dorchester, for all the chances they conceded, created numerous opportunities at the other end but were not ruthless enough.
Some fans questioned Rivers’ decision to leave top scorer Tom Bath and striker Lolos on the bench, but Rivers stood by his choices.
“We’ve got to put (chances) in,” he insisted. “We keep giving teams a head start. It’s individual errors.
“It’s a lack of confidence, but I’m fed up with talking about a lack of confidence. I’ve given them a licence to play and made a big decision in leaving Tom and Klaidi on the bench.
“We felt we could hurt them in wide areas, which we did, and we had to be compact in midfield.
“It was ironic because at half-time, anyone that wasn’t watching that game would say ‘Dorch are 2-0 down’.
“If you’re watching, we were the better side in the first half – I will stand by that.
“What was evident was that we’ve got a soft underbelly and we switch off at the wrong times.
“I would’ve been disappointed going in at 1-0. I was stood there thinking ‘come on, let’s go in level’, but to go in 2-0 down it knocked the stuffing out of me.
“We missed chance after chance and they were more clinical than us.”
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