Dennis Kutrieb made clear his side needed to eliminate errors in front of goal after a game he said was the first time his players didn’t do the basics.
“The first goal was an easy mistake,” he said. “We got the ball back on the left side so we can go long. I need to see it back but it looked to me like we wanted to dribble it out. If there’s high pressure and we’re not sure, then we have to go long. That’s what we said from the first day. It’s the first time when I see we didn’t do the basics in the right way. We started to do it after the red card but that’s it, the game is gone then, you can’t repair it.
“I’m sure we will improve during the season, to make more right than wrong decisions, especially in dangerous areas. The second goal was almost an own goal if we’re honest – you can’t make [the mistake there]. But I can’t blame anyone or the boys who made the mistakes because we’re sitting in the same boat, we win together, we lose together. In this case they made the mistakes but they don’t do it on purpose. Of course they have to make better decisions in those moments but we are not perfect.
“That’s what I’ve said from the first day – we will concede goals and we will score other goals and we will win our games but we need to focus on the basics and do the right things in the right time. Then we will be back stronger.”
The Fleet boss said Hampton were deserved winners who won the battles in key areas.
“If we’re honest it was not our day today,” he said. “It was not good enough, especially the first 45 minutes with enough possession. We played a little bit but when you make easy mistakes you get punished. It was a well-deserved win from them so I have only to say congratulations, they were much better than us in the first half, they were more tenacious, they wanted to win the one-on-one duels. The simple things, the football, the basics, they were better. In the second half we had two good chances but we were not a big threat today. The headers, the tackling, every 50/50 ball was with them.
“We woke up after the red card, then we had a good time and pressed for 10 to 15 minutes. If we scored a goal perhaps we are back in the game but then you could see we’re getting more and more tired. The only good thing today for me is that we fought after the red card. It was 10 men and you couldn’t really see that we were one man down if I want to take the positives out of it. But it’s not about trying. Trying is the minimum you need to deliver on the pitch.”
Chris Solly’s red card interrupted any plans Fleet had for the second half and Kutrieb felt the dismissal was a little harsh but conceded he might have been calling for it had the shoe been on the other foot.
“For me the red card is very soft,” he added. “I wouldn’t agree if i’m honest but anyway it’s gone and you have to take it. It doesn’t make sense to moan at the referees because they made their decision, so we need to focus on us.
“Solly is so important with his experience and he makes the right decisions. It’s very rare you see a mistake from him. For me, he got fouled before he made his foul and I never would give a red card for it, but perhaps if i’m from the other team I would ask for red.”
Looking ahead to a break from league football in the coming weeks, the Fleet boss will be using that time on the training ground.
“Tobi was back today so he’s fit again and we wait for one or two others back next Saturday. Perhaps it’s a good time now that we have a three-week break from the league we can settle down, we can digest the last three results and reset. Of course we want to get a good result in the FA Cup game as well but that’s a different competition, we’re playing against a dangerous side one league below us but that’s a different approach.”
