By Rory McKee
AFTER seeing his Ards side’s losing streak stretch to five games at the weekend, manager John Bailie maintained that there is sufficient quality within his squad to turn things around – though he was equally candid about the scale of their current difficulties.
Eight weeks ago, in the wake of defeat at home to Queen’s University, Bailie cast serious doubt over his future as boss when he told the Chronicle: “Maybe someone else has to come in now and take it forward.”
Although he has remained at the helm, Bailie will know that things might well get worse before they get better, with fixtures against the division’s top three – starting with the visit of Harland and Wolff Welders on Saturday (3pm) – all to come before the month is out.
“We’re in a tough place and in the changing room, you feel like you’re saying the same things every week,” he said following the 1-0 defeat to Armagh City.
“Over the last five games, there have been a couple where we have been well and truly beaten because the performance wasn’t good enough. [On Saturday], I felt we deserved something from the game.
“Armagh didn’t really cause us too many problems and we gave away a soft goal which has been the story for us.
“We spent the second half trying to get back into the game and the last 10 minutes just summed everything up – we hit the post, we hit the bar and it’s just not going in.
“We are severely lacking on the quality side at the minute, and the sad thing is we have got quality players in the changing room. They just aren’t producing that end of their game,” the Ards manager added.
“This is a team that started the season really well and we’ve just hit the skids. We can’t put our finger on where that has come from, all we can do is keep working hard and hope it’s going to change because we all know we need to have a standard of performance but also a bit of luck to win games of football. We aren’t getting that rub of the green at the moment and it’s very tough.”
Not to mention the clear crisis of confidence in front of goal, one of the other most striking elements of Ards’ display at Holm Park was their carelessness in possession.
Bailie explained: “Over the last few Saturdays, we are seeing loose passes and balls being misplaced. They’re things we can work on, but we can’t coach on a Saturday.
“Nobody is going to throw the players under the bus here, we have a good quality squad with good technical ability so I’m not going to shy away from that, but the last four or five Saturdays we can be doing better with the ball.
“Belief and confidence go hand in hand and you have that déjà vu feeling,” he said. “The players know that they’re doing okay and maybe holding the upper hand in a game but then they concede a goal and it’s like ‘here we go again’.
“That’s a hard trait to shift and the only way to dig yourselves out of a hole is to work harder. “We have challenged the players and said that if they don’t want to work for the football club, then move on and go somewhere else.
“But we have to continue to work hard because as soon as you down tools, you will never get out of a rut. “It’s another kick in the stones because I felt we deserved something from the game and we have just fallen short.”
Paul Kee’s Welders side recovered from conceding a first-minute goal to draw with fellow promotion hopefuls Loughgall in their last outing. It came three days after they had taken Premiership champions Linfield to extra time in the Bet McLean Cup and ultimately lost on penalties. Ards full-back Mark Carson will miss the fixture through suspension after being sent off against Armagh.
