Vine blasts Borough after opportunity missed

Rowan Vine found it impossible to hide his frustration following Gosport Borough's goalless draw against St Ives Town at Privett Park on Saturday.
Rowan Vine. Picture: Keith WoodlandRowan Vine. Picture: Keith Woodland
Rowan Vine. Picture: Keith Woodland

He blasted the lack of quality and, in some areas, a lack of effort as his team failed to win again.

The joint caretaker-manager felt it was an abysmal display from a side desperately needing a victory.

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A draw, however, enabled Borough to close the gap on relegation rivals Dunstable Town to two points.

Vine & Co visit Dunstable on Tuesday night for a clash which has long been billed as a relegation decider.

However, they will need to show a big improvement if they are to win and escape the sole relegation spot.

Vine said: ‘For me, this is the biggest disappointment since I have been in charge.

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‘I don’t think we performed anywhere near the levels we did in our last home game.

‘Basically, we played the same shape and had the same personnel, so I can’t explain the reason for it.

‘The team we were up against were not very good. Going into the game I was really confident we could win it.

‘I was disappointed with our quality and with some of the effort.

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‘Three weeks ago a point and a clean sheet would have been great but now we are expecting more.

‘The bar is higher after our last home performance which was much better and against tougher opposition.’

After opening brightly, Borough surrendered the initiative to the visitors.

While St Ives did the bulk of the attacking in the first half, they did not look particularly dangerous.

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It looked every bit a game between two bottom three sides totally lacking in confidence.

There was a marginal improvement after the break – when St Ives had the best chances to win the match.

Meanwhile, Vine was frustrated with Borough’s lack of attacking threat on home turf.

‘We retreated into our shell and nervousness started to creep in,’ said the former Pompey striker.

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‘It is about taking responsibility and not enough players took charge of situations.

‘They would rather wait for others to do it and that is disappointing.

‘We couldn’t wrestle it back. Players weren’t brave enough and didn’t work the opposition hard enough.’

After Tuesday night’s game, Borough and Dunstable have four games remaining. One goal separates them on goal difference.