Sam’s Section: Uncharacteristic performance, injury concerns and milestones hit as Deakin calls for Slimbridge response following Tuffley defeat
In Sam Yapp’s first section of the season – Slimbridge co-manager, Tom Deakin, wants a response from his side after their “disappointing” 3-0 defeat to Tuffley Rovers at Glevum Park on Tuesday night.
Tuffley grabbed only their second ever win over the Swans and their first win of the season thanks to a brace from Karnell Chambers and a first half header from Brad Bevan.
But it was an uncharacteristic performance from the Swans which left Deakin and his players searching for answers.
“It’s disappointing from us really.
“We got out shouted, outran and out worked. I thought we played the better football, but they were more effective and full credit to them for the victory.
“Tonight we weren’t at full strength, but I also don’t think we played anywhere near as well as a team as we could do,” Deakin said.
The Swans had chances to find a way back into the game first through Will Hawes who had an effort superbly blocked by Elijah Simpson just after the break.
Current top scorer for the Swans, Theo Clayson had the best two chances first with a volleyed effort being saved by Luke Merchant before being denied by the post moments later.
“I think if we’d nicked one early at the start of the second half it might have been an interesting next 25-30 minutes, but they had a 2-0 advantage, and it was always uphill from there.
“Theo’s chances like the one that hit the post is the main one really. There was also a couple of good blocks like the one from Elijah on Hawes and Merchant made a very good save that we didn’t follow up on,” he said.
What didn’t help Deakin’s cause was losing captain Myron Turner just before half time through injury adding another member of the squad to the physio’s bed.
Midfielder Sam Blackie was removed from Saturday’s FA Cup 3-1 win over Malmesbury Victoria with “a little bit of an issue” and didn’t feature against Tuffley.
Striker Jack Smith played a full 90 minutes after taking a hefty knock on Saturday, as his quality couldn’t be missed from the team according to Deakin.
“Jack played through tonight with a very, very heavy knock after Saturday but a player of his quality you want in the team.
“Sam we brought off on Saturday as there was a little bit of an issue with him. We’ll see where he is heading into the weekend.
“With Myron, we train on Thursday so, we will have a look to see how he is then but that one might be a little bit longer than a couple of the others.
“It’ll be a shame to lose him, being the captain, he’s quite a key part of the group,” he said.
The Swans were due a night off from training this week as they head into a jam-packed schedule but following their defeat and performance, Deakin saw it beneficial to work on improvements ahead of Saturday’s match against Hartpury University.
“There’ll be a response, definitely be a response of some sort. We were looking at having Thursday off this week but after that performance we probably are going to train.
“We’ll have a session because we can’t take this into Saturday.
“The lads tend to be if we take one step back we take two more forward like we had at Christmas last year where we had a bad run then bang, bang, bang the results fell for us.”
But on a positive note for the Swans, two players hit new milestones during the fixture as defender, Nathan Dennis reached 100 appearances for the club alongside striker, Jack Smith who made his 50th.
“Nathan won’t want reminding that was his 100th appearance I’ll tell you that now.”
“Nath is a good leader in amongst the group and Jack is a player who is building his reputation.
“They’re both great. Great to have around the dressing room and great to have out on the pitch so for Nath to get 100 and Jack to get 50 it’s a fantastic achievement for the both of them,” Deakin said.
Slimbridge are back in action on Saturday as they host newly promoted Hartpury University at Thornhill Park , whilst Tuffley head to Lydney Town as they look to build on from Tuesday night’s win. Both games with a 15:00 kick off
