Linnets boss shares fans’ frustrations after derby defeat

Adam Lakeland says he shares the frustration of supporters following the 2-1 defeat to Peterborough Sports in the A47 derby at the Walks.Freddie Sass struck the woodwork and Josh Hmami missed a sitter in the second half as the off-colour Linnets suffered their first home loss of the campaign.And with fans left disappointed and voicing their concerns on the final whistle, it’s a feeling that the manager says he completely empathises with.Lakeland said: “They must realise I’m more frustrated than probably they are.“I have no issue with people who pay their hard-earned money to come and watch us and the crowd today in terms of the numbers was great, but it’s the quietest we’ve been and, yes, we’ve got to give them something to get behind. We have done, I think, so far this season.“But when you go and concede an early goal, it went very flat in here and obviously they score a second goal and it went flat and it probably wasn’t until we scored which was late on that we started to hear them.”That’s not a criticism because we’ve got to give them something to get behind, but sometimes football players need the supporters more when they’re losing. “It’s easy for people to applaud when things are going well, but generally in football, you learn more about everybody when times are tough. “We were playing quite well, but it was tough and frustrating there and maybe the crowd could have helped us just inject a little bit more energy and a little bit more life into that performance.”Lakeland was left disappointed with the manner of goals his side conceded against their Cambridgeshire rivals.“I thought the better team lost, and we gave away two really poor goals at really bad times and ultimately that cost us,” he said. “It just allows the opposition to control the speed of the game and we need to play with energy and tempo and it is so hard to do that when every time there’s an opportunity for them to go down, they go down, every time the keeper has got the ball he’s taking an eternity, every time it’s off the pitch for a throw-in it’s taking an eternity and you need a referee that acts on that, tries to inject a little bit of speed into the game.”I don’t think he did it – I think it took him until the 87th minute to book one of their players, which is just not good enough. “And to only add five minutes on, I just find that bamboozling when there’s been, what, eight substitutions and so much break-up of the game.“Because I think if that game went on for a few more minutes, we might have conjured up another chance.“I feel like a draw was the least we deserved, but I can’t fault the players other than the goals we gave away. I thought we worked right until the end, and it wasn’t to be.”