PAUL SMITH has urged his Bromsgrove Sporting squad to cut out individual errors after they bowed out of the Polymac Packaging League Cup to Sporting Khalsa.
The Rouslers had beaten Khalsa 1-0 in a pre-season friendly this summer but failed to recreate the performance which got them a fabulous victory as goals from Tesfa Robinson, Nicholas Turton and Luke Shearer secured the win for the Midland League Premier Division visitors last night (Tuesday).
With defensive pairing Luke Edwards and Keenan Meakin-Richards unavailable for Tuesday’s clash, Smith admitted the Rouslers looked ‘shaky’ at the back but targeted individual errors as the reason for their downfall.
Sam Wills, Chris Lloyd and Will Tibbetts were also missing.
And after Smith was left disappointed in a below-par performance at Coventry Copsewood on Saturday, despite claiming a 3-1 victory to maintain their unbeaten start to the new Midland League Division One campaign, he has reiterated the need to avoid ‘costly’ mistakes.
He said: “I told the players after the Khalsa game that it’s always a going to be a case of fine margins against better sides and if you make mistakes you’re going to get punished.
“We dropped three errors and they scored off each of them. It was a very tight game and without those mistakes, it was a game which I think we shaded.
“You can’t afford to make three individual errors against a side like Khalsa as you’re going to get punished.
“Hopefully my feelings after the game are enough to make sure it don’t happen again.
“Ironically, the players got a bigger roasting on Saturday as we was not at it at all.
“No disrespect to Copsewood but a better side would have beaten us as we looked relaxed defensively and the ruthless streak from the 13-0 win over Ellistown & Ibstock United seemed to have gone.”
Sporting will hope to return to their best on Saturday when they travel to West Midlands (Regional) League Division One outfit Tipton Town in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase.
Edwards is expected to make a return from a bruised knee while Meakin-Richards, Lloyd and Wills are back from work commitments.
“Tipton have got off to a great start. They will go into the game confident they can get a scalp so we have to be right on our metal,” Smith added.
“It’s very important the players do their jobs individually and as a group if we wish to progress.”
