We were very encouraged by the performance on the day in the first leg and by the second half in particular so it was a bit of a sucker punch to concede as we did right at the end. Tommy Lee is accountable for making a wrong decision but there is no way that I want him to change because he has been absolutely magnificent for us. We will not permit him to head shake with regards to the outcome on the night because we dominated the second half and deserved better on the day.
It is hard to dampen the lad's enthusiasm because they know what they are capable of and in the 2^nd half of the game they showed just that. I was encouraged by it and if they hadn't performed like that I might have been a bit wary. They are all really optimistic and are looking forward to getting out there again.
Some people have been talking about the way that the pitch was watered just before the kick off and it was certainly difficult selecting footwear but it is not an excuse. We made a few bad decisions in the early stages and that served to encourage Darlington and their supporters. They hadn't won at home since mid March and now they have but we are only at half time. Obviously we aren't pleased with a one goal deficit going into the second leg but we do feel that it can be turned over. We are also massively encouraged by the experience gained by so many young players on the day. We don't have many who have been involved in games like this and a few of them did get a little caught in the headlights early on but they were tremendous when we camped out in Darlington's half during the second period.
We now have 90 minutes plus to play and this tie is a long way from being over. If I was a betting man, which I am not, I would definitely take what we have at this moment in time.
Darlington's opening goal was a magnificent piece of individual skill but the flip side of the coin is that the crossbar stopped Chris Dagnall giving us the lead. I know and you all know what we have in our dressing room and I don't see the first leg as a loss, next weekend is just a continuation.