Reaction from Spalding United manager Jimmy Dean after their defeat to Bishop’s Stortford
Manager Jimmy Dean admitted his Spalding United side's game had been too expansive as they tumbled to a home defeat against Bishop's Stortford on Saturday.
The Tulips went down to a 3-1 home reversal despite having the lion's share of the Southern League Premier Division Central clash.
Dean felt his side had left themselves too exposed to the Blues' rapid raids which saw Jack Roberts score a hat-trick for the triumphant visitors.
The Spalding boss: "We had the better of the ball all game but we were far too expansive.
"They have done a good job on us but we made it easy for them.
"If you looked at our average positions on a player map, I guarantee that they're far too advanced for a team of our ability.
"We have to lock the game off better because two goals have come from turn-overs and one from a set piece.
"We were so vulnerable to our own turn-over of possession because we were never set."
Spalding had created the majority of the chances in the first half but found themselves two goals down at the break.
Dion Sembie-Ferris halved the deficit but Stortford had restored their two-goal advantage within six minutes to bring Spalding back down to earth after last week's excellent win at play-off chasing Stratford Town.
Dean added: "We're a new side that's just coming together and we probably believed in our own hype a little bit after last week.
"Stortford were willing and worked hard but we gave them the chance to build their attacks.
"We talked about having control of the ball and playing the game on our terms but we just got carried away a little bit too much.
"We isolated our two centre-halves too much and the full-backs probably went too high too soon.
"The problem when you do that is that, if you don't play the right pass or keep the ball, then you're in trouble.
"I always believed that we were in the game and we conjured attack after attack but there is lots of stuff that we need to be better at.
"I wanted to kick on after last Saturday but I'm not deluded and I know that there's work to do here."
Spalding remain in 16th place after the defeat, two points clear of the relegation zone. They host fourth-placed Stourbridge next weekend.
Defender Nathan Stainfield has gone out on loan for a month to join Northern Premier League Midlands Division side Wellingborough Town.
He joins former Spalding players Sam Warburton, Danny Draper, Jordan Graham and Joe Curits who are currently with the Doughboys.
The quintet all played on Saturday in their 2-1 home defeat to table-topping Quorn.
