Notts County head coach Martin Paterson insists he is hurting following his team’s poor start to the League Two season.
The Magpies entertain Shrewsbury Town tomorrow night in search of their first victory of the campaign and having lost their last three in all competitions. A 2-1 defeat against Barrow on Saturday saw them slip to 18th in the table, a position which could be worse before they take to the field with the rest of the division due to play tonight.
Paterson was given his second managerial role in June after the decision was made to part company with previous boss Stuart Maynard. Although tipped to struggle by many in pre-season, they picked up a point on the road on the opening day against Newport County. Since then, they have exited the Carabao Cup against Wigan Athletic, whilst a 2-1 loss at home against Salford City was a major disappointment.
Paterson Admits Hurting At Early Season Form
County’s most recent defeat was perhaps the most compelling so far. They looked to have earned a point against Barrow at the weekend when Matthew Dennis bagged an 89th minute equaliser. However, Lewis Shipley struck in the seventh minute of added time to secure the three points for the Bluebirds.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow night’s home clash with Shrewsbury, the former Burton Albion boss admitted the latest loss was tough to take:
“It does hurt.
“There’s many different reasons in terms of you talk about hurting.
“It might be easy if you just focus on the last minute. What hurts the most is, again, we start the first half and we don’t look ourselves at all.
“(Giving away) simple passes, not things we have worked on, and that’s where my honesty probably opens me up for criticism.
“The first (Barrow) goal is a high press moment and we’re so passive. We don’t work on that.
“We seem to be really easy to score against in those quick moments. We have to do so much to score our goal. The first half performance is not good enough.”
Writer’s View
It’s unquestionably been a poor start to Martin Paterson’s tenure but we’re not anywhere near panic stations just yet. Notts County fans will be growing increasingly concerned with each passing game though, especially if the defeats keep rolling in. Although early days, another home defeat will add a little bit of pressure, especially against a team that is also yet to pick up a victory this season.
