Concentration needs to be better says Scott Cousins

Potters Bar Town were punished for one mistake against Carshalton Athletic according to joint-manager Scott Cousins but remains confident they are still on course to retain their Bostik Premier Division status.

A penalty conceded early in the second half by Cousins’ fellow gaffer Lee O’Leary was saved by Niko Tzanev but the Robins were first to the rebound with Michael Dixon’s goal the difference in the 1-0 win.

And the former St Albans City man said it was the reaction of his players that was the most frustrating part of the game at the Pakex Stadium.

Cousins said: “Leo has held his hands in the changing room but he’s not used to playing centre-half and other than that one mistake he was brilliant.

The thing that frustrated me the most was we saved the penalty but they were first to the rebound. That’s criminal.

“At this stage of the season and with where we are in the league you can’t let you man have a free run from the edge of the box and tap it in.

“There wasn’t too much between the two teams. No one did enough to win it but again we’re on the end of a defeat just through a small lack of concentration and professionalism to do the right things over and over again.

“On the whole they defended well and we defended well.

“It was a game of limited chances and we just switched off and got punished for that one mistake.”

The lack of opportunities for Bar has been a problem for most of the season and their only real chance saw Josh Hutchinson denied by Patrick Ohman when he was through one on one.

Cousins though has total faith in his attacking players.

“We definitely haven’t been scoring enough goals but we didn’t create too many chances,” he said.

“But it’s hard to be overly critical when the strikers haven’t got much service and to then expect them to be firing when they get it.

“But we have got goals in the team and I’m still confident we’ll score enough and get enough points to get safe.”

And he points to their recent form as the proof to back up his statement.

“We’ve got four points from three games and if you mirror those results for the remaining games that’ll be more than enough to see us safe.

“We’ve just got to make sure that when we have our six-pointers against Wingate, Harlow we’re on top form.

“They are the games that will see us safe.”

Updated 22:55 - 29 Aug 2019 by Jeff Barnes