Back to basics for Lowestoft

LOWESTOFT Town boss Ady Gallagher says his side have to get back to some basics after being thrashed by their nearest rivals Concord Rangers on Tuesday night.

The Blues turned in their worst performance of the season at the Thames Road ground as a Dave Collins first-half hat-trick sent them spinning to defeat before goals from Paul Shave and Lyle Taylor rounded off a 5-0 scoreline for the Essex side.

The defeat allowed Rangers to pull level on points with the Blues at the top of Ryman League Division One North, albeit from three games more and with a significantly inferior goal difference.

But in recent weeks the Blues management team have admitted their side have not recovered their pre-Christmas form and now Gallagher is challenging his side to get rediscover the performances which saw them shoot to the top of the table with only defeat before the turn of the year.

'I think players generally forgot how hard it is to do the right things and how to win games in the right way,' he said.

'I think we've got a little bit to causal, since Christmas and I think we need to get back on it.

'Up until then, we've been hard to play against and hard to score against and we've been building off that. In the last few games we've been far too easy to score against.

'We got to revert back to a few basics and get our heads on it again and remember we're still a good side, we've just had a poor day.'

And he conceded that the Blues turned in their worst display of the campaign to date in such a crucial game.

'Undoubtedly,' he said.

'We started poorly and in the first half didn't get any better. When a team's really on it, as Concord were, and you're not matching them in every area then you're really going to struggle.

'And when these things happen teams tend to get the breaks, like their third goal with a deflected free-kick just before half-time. 'We've had it this season, and they've had their little bit so good luck to them.'

The Blues were due to play Croydon Athletic last night in their rearranged Championship Manager Cup quarter-final clash and with a league game at Great Wakering Rovers tomorrow, Gallagher said there are likely to be changes to the starting line-up and the 5-0 defeat gives other players a chance to stake their claims in the starting XI.

'I think it's inevitable when you've got as many games as we have the team's going to change around a little bit,' he said.

'You've got to look after your players. We've got a really strong squad and players are still fighting for places.

'Performances like this give other people the opportunities to come in and stake a claim and rightly so.

'The players in the side really know they must deliver a greater level of performance than they have done and players who are on the fringe can rightly be knocking on our door and saying 'if those lads aren't going to deliver, then I'm prepared to'.

'It's going to be an interesting spell leading up to the end of the season, but one performance doesn't spoil it for us.'

One upside from Tuesday was the news that Adam Smith's injury is not as serious as first feared.

Left-back Smith clattered into fencing around the pitch less than three minutes into the game and was laying face down for 40 minutes under physio supervision as the emergency services arrived.

But he did manage to walk back to the visitors' dressing room with the assistance of the paramedics, and Town joint boss Ady Gallagher confirmed that the injury was not as bad as it appeared.

'It looked a lot more serious than it possibly was,' he said.

'When there's a back injury you're always going to err on the side of caution.

'I think he's got some soft tissue damage but it was quite scary at the time and with the back you don't want to move players. 'Fortunately I suppose for the game he was off the pitch at the time and able to be covered up until the paramedics got here.

'But the good news for us, is that hopefully within two or three days he'll be fine.'