Gary McCann felt the schedule caught up with Hampton and Richmond in their loss to Braintree

By Joe Acklam

1st Nov 2022 | Football


"It is hard to criticise the lads because the schedule has been so hard." - Gary McCann. Photo: Katie Chan.
"It is hard to criticise the lads because the schedule has been so hard." - Gary McCann. Photo: Katie Chan.

Gary McCann felt that the frantic fixture schedule caught up with Hampton and Richmond in their 3-0 loss against Braintree Town. 

Hampton had won three of their last four but Joe Benton's goal followed by two late goals courtesy of Levi Avantchi and a Dean Inman own goal brought about their sixth loss of the season. 

McCann wanted to stay positive about his team after the match as they were struggling with the high workload of recent weeks. 

Speaking to club media, he said: "When you are served up a three-nil result there aren't really any positives, but when you look at that 25 minute, half hour period [in the second half] the boys really tried to find a way back into the game. 

"It was just that bit of quality, conviction, magic, responsibility which was lacking, we had the chances, we had the moments in that 25, 30 minutes. 

"It is hard to criticise the lads because the schedule has been so hard and they have left everything out on the pitch again. 

"The two goals at the end don't count for too much, we are chasing the game. There is no question they can be defended better, for sure they can. 

"But when you are one down and chasing the game and trying to recover it tends to count for not too much. 

"We go again, we will have to do a head count and get ourselves ready for Tuesday's game against St Albans." 

The Beavers were forced into making three substitutions before a ball had been kicked in the second half as Ruaridh Donaldson, Ade Shokunbi, and Tyrell Miller-Rodney were all forced off with injuries, but McCann remains confident his squad will cope. 

He said: "One is a knee injury that looks relatively serious for Ade [Shokunbi], T [Miller-Rodney] has been playing with two or three niggles through the course of the season. 

"He was back available on Tuesday and trained fully on Thursday, but he has opened his knee up as well by the looks of it, so we will have to assess that on Tuesday. 

"Ruaridh [Donaldson] has got a tightness and soreness in his groin and maybe that is from the overload in terms of work that he has had to put in. 

"Listen, it is football and we will have to deal with it. This is what the squad is for and the players who were selected for the second 45 really should have recovered the game. 

"In that 25–30-minute period where numerous chances presented themselves and their goalkeeper has nearly been carried off the pitch, which tells you everything you need to know." 

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