Shirtliff slates Stags
13 Sep 2006 - 12:05:30
Mansfield Town boss Peter Shirtliff struggled to explain his side's below par display as they went down 2-0 at Hartlepool United on Tuesday.
The Stags crushed Hereford United 4-1 last weekend, but failed to build on that display as they were sunk by a late Joel Porter brace at Victoria Park.
"I'm very disappointed with the performance," said Shirtliff.
"The players have to show a lot more resilience and a lot more aggression in matches, especially tight games like this one away from home.
"But our team is a young one and they are still learning.
"One of the biggest lessons they need to learn is the nasty side of football when it's needed, to refuse to accept defeats in games like this.
"We might have scored early on, and I thought we should have had a penalty after their first goal. But there are no excuses, we just didn't do what was required in a tight game with very few chances."