Martyn Davies defends young Market Drayton Town troops
Market Drayton Town manager Martyn Davies set aside the disappointment of a shock 3-2 home defeat by long-term relegation candidates Rugby Town to defend his young squad.
"We were unbelievably poor, farcical for the first half hour," he admitted before quickly qualifying: "But an horrendous spell like that, in which we conceded three goals, does not make you a bad player or a member of a bad team.
"The Evo-Stik Northern Premier South is very unforgiving and our problem is we have many lads still learning how things go at this level.
"We are building for the future and in any sport, some level of inconsistency is a product of that. The comforting thing is that when they get it right, they are very, very good. However, when they don't, they are very, very vulnerable. It's a real Jekyll and Hyde situation. Many a group of players has had to work through it at all levels of the game – now we've got to. But I'm convinced we have the character and quality to do so.
"The great consolation is that, having played so badly against Rugby and given them a three-goal lead, we were still able to pull two back.
"And to our credit, in our last seven games we've beaten Romulus by scoring four away, Stamford with another four, title candidates Witton Albion 3-2 and Gresley 2-1.
"You've got to be able to play a bit to turn in results like that."
Rugby began their romp with a 14th-minute strike by David Kolodynski and by the time he added another 10 minutes later, full-back Trey Braithwaite had already helped highlight the total disarray in Drayton's ranks by racing forward to put the visitors into a two-goal lead.
Even by the standards of Drayton's notoriously bad starts, 3-0 down at home in 24 minutes is a situation likely to stick in the memories of their nerve-stretched supporters. Victory would have taken Drayton to mid-table; for Rugby it meant a move from the relegation zone they've occupied for months.
To their credit, Drayton did much better after the break, despite having central defender Andy Hartlebury, sent off for handling by referee Darren Rogers.
Town went close several times before Will Whieldon got them back in contention in the 58th minute and Glynn Coney netted again two minutes from the end.
