 |
| Adam Rooney |
Hereford's downbeat caretaker boss Adam Rooney has said the brutal 5-1 loss at Southport summed up the season.Rooney took charge for the first time after Paul Caddis was sacked midweek in the wake of the 3-0 defeat at AFC Telford United, but any hopes of a new-manager bounce were extinguished in a chastening afternoon on the Lancashire coast.
It could have been very different. Hereford were rampant early on, only to be denied time and again by Southport debutant George Pickford, who produced a string of outstanding saves to keep the visitors at bay. Rooney’s side carved out chance after chance, yet went in 2-0 down at the break after goals from Chris Sze and Jordan Slew punished defensive lapses.
“It’s no point in being good if you don't finish your chances," Rooney told BBC Hereford and Worcester after the game.
“First half probably summed up a large chunk of our season where we've been in games and there's been nothing in the game and then all of a sudden we're behind again and then everything just goes out the window. We seem to capitulate.
“First 25 minutes, they're keeping us at seven saves, eight saves maybe. We have to take chances. I think we have a header at the back stick has to score. I think someone else just should've scored in front of the keeper, I'm not sure who got on it.
“And then we don't take our chances and then up the other end, someone's left free in the six-yard box for a rebound. So it summed up the season so far.”
If the first half was wasteful, the second was alarming. Malakai McKenzie, Sze and Slew added three more as Hereford wilted, with Rooney cutting a deflated figure on the touchline as his side’s confidence visibly drained.
“It’s very disappointing. You can obviously imagine it's not a lack of effort from players. They do care. They're in there, they give their all.
“But if you look at the season so far as a whole, it's just not good enough - simple as, at both ends of the pitch, we're not scoring enough, not taking our chances, and off the back of that then, we're going up the other end and conceding too many. So yeah, it's not good.”
Rooney spoke candidly about the mentality within the dressing room, insisting the players care deeply but questioning whether they possess the edge required for a relegation scrap.
“It's been difficult to be honest with you because they're a great group of lads. It really is.
“They're good people, but I think at times we're too nice. We're just we're too nice, too nice to each other, too nice on the pitch. At the minute, we need people that are going to fight and scrap every week because of the position we're in. And we're going to need that.
“So, realistically, you need to get bodies in the door to do that because what's in the dressing room at the minute. Ultimately, we haven't been good enough as a whole.”
Rooney added that there were “people all over the place" and certain players just weren't making tackles they should have been and admitted the squad looked deflated, with confidence down. But he was adamant heads cannot drop now and the Bulls need players who can fight to survive in the National League North.
“The lads are trying, we're getting opportunities, we're just not taking them and then again, saying the same thing, we're just getting punished at the other end.
“I don't know what the answer is to that because it's a lot of individual mistakes. I think two of the goals today were baffling to watch, to be honest with you.
“It's hard, I'm part of that group and it's on me as well, especially today. There's not much else I've got to say, to be honest with you.”
Hereford did at least grab a late consolation from the penalty spot thanks to debutant 19-year-old striker George Munday, but it did little to mask a sobering afternoon.
It leaves Rooney with a huge task to lift a wounded squad in the weeks ahead, starting with Darlington at Sixways on Tuesday - if he remains in charge.
.png)
%20copy.jpeg)
.JPG)
.png)