Bards coach admits game was ‘uncomfortable’ to watch

STRATFORD Town head coach Paul Davis admitted he was left frustrated that his side were unable to put visitors Biggleswade Town to the sword on Saturday after midfielder Lewis Ison had handed them the perfect start, scoring inside two minutes, reports David Lawrence.

The Bards were guilty of missing a hatful of further chances to keep the supporters on the edge of their seats as the league’s bottom club pressed for an equaliser.

“The big frustration is the same as it has been for the previous 20 games – the amount of chances we create to score one goal,” Davis said.

“The one we have scored is a great strike but not one that you’d expect to score. There were four or five others that we would expect to score but we didn’t.

“Their goalkeeper has probably been their man of the match and I think he has made three or four world class saves. But ultimately we should have been a bit more comfortable – for the last ten minutes it wasn’t comfortable for anyone in the ground, you could feel it. Then they get a free-kick in the 97th minute and I can’t even see Weavo [keeper Jake Weaver] as he’s standing behind the wall and I’m thinking, ‘Oh no!’

“But winning is winning and if we can win the remaining games like that then I’d take it.

“I thought they gambled pretty early on, in the first half they had a front four playing against our back four and then late on they just left everyone up the pitch when we had a corner.

“When you are not getting results and playing against the bottom team then there is a certain amount of expectation. The nervousness around the ground was apparent which meant that the final whistle was more of a relief than an enjoyment.

“I’ve stopped looking at the table now and set the points total of what I think will finish fifth. If we get more than that then we will finish higher.

“Hopefully we have been through our [poor] spell now and if we can get a result at Banbury then it will be another step. We just need to keep doing our thing.”

The game was midfielder Dan Lafferty’s 150th in a Stratford Town shirt and Davis paid his own tribute.

“It is an incredible achievement,” the head coach said. “I signed him in my first spell here. He came in as a lad from Coventry, a bit green, but he looks like a man now and yet he is still only 23.

“To play 150 games at this level for one club, full credit to him and hopefully he can go on and play another 150 games.

“But as a football club, we need to fulfil his expectations and progress to the next level.”