Moneyfields boss Turnbull desperate to improve ‘unacceptable’ Wessex League defensive record

Moneys’ hopes of emulating Turnbull’s US Portsmouth Vase heroics of last season were shattered in Sussex at the weekend.

The boss admitted three ‘gift’ goals contributed to a 3-2 loss against the Marigolds - and added to his defensive frustrations.

Moneys return to league action at home to Hamble Club on Tuesday having only kept two clean sheets in 11 Wessex Premier fixtures. And one of those was against a Hythe & Dibden side who had only scored three goals in 14 league matches.

Turnbull said Moneys’ record of having shipped 16 goals in those 11 matches was unacceptable’ - and contrasts sharply with defensive solidity shown by the likes of Horndean (six goals conceded in 12 games), Hamworthy (seven in 11) and Baffins (nine in 12).

‘We need to put in a 90-minute performance against Hamble,’ he outlined. ‘That means if you’re a defender you defend well for 90 minutes - don’t give any opportunities away.

‘Some of the players have had their fill of mistakes.’

Turnbull’s teams generally always score - in his 59 league and cup games in charge at USP, his side only fired one blank (and that was in a game he missed due to holiday). And in 18 league and cup games with Moneys this term, they have only failed to score three times.

‘We’re scoring goals in 95 per cent of the games,’ he said. ‘That shows if you can defend well you’ll win more than you’ll lose. But it’s much harder if we’re having to score three or four to win games.

‘That’s where we’ve got to improve.’

Right wing-back Chad Cornwell faces a few months out after suffering a broken bone in a foot at Littlehampton – the versatile Rob Evans is one option to replace him – while midfielder Matt McGlinchey is rated 50-50 with a shoulder injury also picked up at the weekend.