The Latics managed to concede another late goal on Saturday at home to Stevenage, their fourth such goal in the last four games, which has cost them five points! It is so frustrating for the fans who feel like they have watched a loss again, instead of witnessing a point gained. Manager Paul Scholes must be pulling his hair out with the teams lack of game management. He must have surely addressed it in the dressing room but still the same mistakes are made. Jose Baxter gave the Latics the lead just after half time and they dominated the game and SHOULD have held on for three points. However, the inevitable happened again to give the handful of travelling Stevenage supporters something to smile at on their way home.
Scholes said, “I was really pleased with how we played, I thought we were really good. We probably missed that little extra in the final third, but I thought we got into some good areas especially out wide, but we didn't quite have the quality at times for the second goal. It was a great strike from Jose, and we made a couple of chances after that with Dapo (Afolayan) having one cleared off the line and one that went across goal. In the main I was pleased, but obviously I was disappointed with the goal at the end as you're going to be. We need to cut those types of mistakes out. Chris has been great for us, but he knows he should have cleared the ball away. We need to start managing games better and we're just falling short at the minute.”
“We've watched Stevenage and we knew exactly what they were going to be like, they're very similar to a Morecambe or a Yeovil. We handled everything brilliantly, we never felt we were in trouble really. From open play I couldn't see how we were going to concede a goal or even a chance to be honest with you. I know they hit the bar, but other than that they played for set pieces and we have to defend them better. We have to learn from today, we have to be more ruthless and then you don't put pressure on yourselves.”
“There's not just Jose, there's a lot of good players in this squad, but he took his goal well today and, in my opinion, he should have been man of the match. He was excellent in possession, he was great for us and he's an experienced man combined with the quality he's got which is the most important thing. Some of the balls he was hitting to the wide players were brilliant which is what we've been working on.”