JERSEY Bulls must pick themselves back up and be ready for tomorrow’s away trip to Alton, manager Gary Freeman said, after a 1-0 defeat at home to Tooting and Mitcham on the opening day of the league campaign.
Before the start of the season, Freeman spoke of the need to improve the club’s home form, to find a way to break down teams who sit deep and to take more points off title rivals.
All three of those vulnerabilities were on display at Springfield as the Bulls showed plenty of spark, particularly in the early exchanges, but lacked a cutting edge.
Freeman admitted his frustration as his side slipped to defeat.
‘I thought we started the game really well and there was this feeling that if we got one things might open up a little bit for us,’ he said.
‘We probably deserved to get one in that opening period but we didn’t and the game became a bit scrappy after than. We let them back into the game and they hung in there and made it difficult for us.
‘In the second-half, it wasn’t until we went one down that we started to play with a bit more freedom and created a couple of chances. But when they got one ahead we were up against it.’
He added that the ‘challenge now’ was to return to winning ways tomorrow night.
Freeman said: ‘We have a couple of players carrying a few knocks and we need to make sure we are ready to go on Tuesday. It is a quick turnaround and we look ahead now to that game.’
One positive for Freeman will be the performance of Luke Watson, who played just off striker Lorne Bickley and much of the Bulls’ good early play was funnelled through him.
‘Luke is a great player – he can play in that number 10 role and find pockets where he can control games from,’ Freeman said. ‘He definitely has that in his locker and that is something we might see him do more of this season.’
