Rawlinson: Nature of defeats sums up our season

Chris Rawlinson was disappointed to concede soft goals yet again.

Chris Rawlinson says the nature of two defeats in four days summed up Skegness Town’s season as his side’s home form also continued to struggle.

The Lilywhites lost 2-1 at home to Newark Town last Wednesday and then fell by the same scoreline to league leaders Eastwood CFC at the weekend.

And having given as good as they got in both fixtures, Rawlinson said it was a familiar story as to why they ended up losing them.

He said: “It’s been disappointing and the season was summed up in two games last week where we lost 2-1 to two set play goals which were silly and soft goals to give away, and other than that in both games there hasn’t been much in it.

"The Newark game was a very average game where the teams cancelled each other out, but on Saturday against Eastwood we by far created the better chances and had a disallowed goal which shouldn’t have been ruled offside, and we’ve missed two or three gilt-edged chances which sums our season up.

"You can be on top and have the chances but you don’t take them and then lose the game to a soft goal. These aren’t excuses, but other than Tom Ward, the side that ended the game on Saturday having played so well against the league leaders was an under-23 side, so it’s fantastic that these players are getting so much experience and if they stick together we could be a hell of a side in a couple of years’ time.

"But it’s disappointing the season has gone the way it has. Our away form is outstanding but our home form is amongst the worst in the league and I can’t put my finger on it as we’re not doing anything differently in terms of preparation.

"We’ve got three more home games to try and turn that around and give the supporters some hope for a better home season next year.”

Shirebrook Town are next up for Skegness, their hosts currently bottom of the league but now under new management following the departure of Rudy Funk earlier this month.

Rawlinson said: “They’ve changed their manager and brought two or three new players in and are fighting for their lives, and they’ll have earmarked this as one the games they can win given their tough run-in, so we have to make sure we turn up as we’ve told the lads we’re not on the beach yet and want to win as many games as we can.”