‘I’m putting myself under pressure’ – Baffins Milton Rovers boss Danny Thompson after another 3-0 home Wessex League defeat

After crashing 3-0 to Hamble in their Premier Division curtain-raiser, Rovers suffered a copycat beating by AFC Stoneham last night.

Two ‘very soft’ Jim Orvis penalties helped the Purples move into a 3-0 half-time lead.

Striker Duarte Martins - a hat-trick hero when Stoneham won 3-2 at The PMC Stadium last season - netted in between the spot-kicks.

‘We were awful first half, much better in the second half,’ summed up Thompson, whose side are one of just three clubs - Shaftesbury and Blackfield are the others - still awaiting their first Wessex top flight point of 2022/23.

Stoneham went ahead when Baffins’ Ryan Kennedy, who had been attempting to shepherd the ball out of play for a home goal kick, was judged to have committed a foul.

‘It was so soft it was unreal,’ rued Thompson. ‘I’ve never seen a penalty awarded like that in all my years in football.’

The second spot-kick was awarded after Ed Sanders had been punished for an offence.

‘The second half we were much better but they might have taken their foot off the pedal,’ Thompson continued. ‘The damage had been done in the first 45 minutes and it’s hard to pick the lads up after that.

‘There were about 14 new players in the squad and I think nine of them started. It’s going to take time, that’s the way it is.

‘I will definitely take some of the blame. I gave the lads last Thursday off and we didn’t come in on Saturday either. That’s down to me.

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‘We’re just so inconsistent. We were very, very poor in the first half against Hamble and again last night. We looked a totally different side in the second half.

‘We’re not going to be at our best until 10-15 games. The squad’s got to gel, players have got to bed in. But saying that, we can’t perform like we did in the first 45 minutes last night.

‘I don’t want to make excuses, but when you have an influx of new players it’s not going to happen in the first two league games.

‘I’m not under any pressure from the chairman, but I’m putting myself under pressure.

‘As a manager you are judged on results and after two games we’ve yet to get a point.

‘Now I have to stew on this result for two and a half weeks.’

Due to the vagaries of the early-season fixture list, last night’s game was Baffins’ second Wessex fixture of August - and their last.

They now face four successive cup ties prior to returning to league action at table-topping Bemerton Heath on September 3.

‘That’s frustrating,’ said Thompson.

Baffins host PO postcode rivals Horndean in the preliminary round of the FA Cup this Saturday.