25th August 2019

The green and whites fell 2-0 down to goals from Josh Smile and Danny Whitehall before Courtney Duffus setup a dramatic final 10 minutes. 

Tom Bradbury had a goal disallowed for offside as the hosts were unable to salvage a point. 

Speaking to YTTV, Town’s boss was left frustrated: “We’re trying to encourage the players to speed up and play quicker, and then the game dies again. Then it dies again and then it dies again.

“I thought we were incredibly naive with those tactics. Worse still, the referee was naive to their tactics. So we’re going to have to get used to this. We’re going to have to embrace it. We’re going to have to try to develop the players to be able to handle it.

“Some of them I thought couldn’t handle the pressure of being at a really big club at this level. That’s going to have to be something we make sure we nullify very, very quickly because I don’t want to come out on a Saturday and watch that garbage. I know the supporters don’t either.”

In a scrappy affair which saw six yellow cards awarded and a total of seven minutes of stoppage time played, the home crowd were left frustrated by the Magpies’ tactics in Somerset. 

Identifying the Berkshire outfit’s game plan, Sarll admits that the green and whites will have to adjust to such tactics.

“We’re the big club now. The institution of the club is big, and the tradition is big,” he said. “Financially we’re not big, but we’re a big club.

“One of the first things I did when I came here, was I saw one of the staff of the opponents taking a video of himself in such a wonderful ground. It’s that type of day for them, and an occasion.

“So I think we’re going to have to get used to teams coming here, and literally not wanting to join in with the game. They didn’t really join in the game. They sat off, and slowed us right down, which was our fault – and then they fell over a lot!”