‘Miles off it’ – Pontypridd United boss delivers scathing verdict after Barry Town loss
Goalscorer Kayne McLaggon in action for Barry Town United. Barry Town United v Pontypridd United in Cymru Premier at Jenner Park on 17th October 2023.
Pontypridd United manager Andrew Stokes admitted his team were disappointing as a dominant Barry display saw them defeated 2-0 at the USW Sport Park.
Former Dragons man Harrison Bright opened the scoring for the hosts, and then Kayne McLaggon scored on the rebound after George Ratcliffe had initially saved his penalty.
Talking about his sides performance he said to Sgorio: “We just didn’t respond, we were too slow to start and we felt as if we were chasing the game then and you can’t do that at his level.
He also expressed how his side is severely lacking consistency so far this term: “We need to find consistency, that’s one big thing.
“We can’t turn out performances like that and the players know that. They accept that in the changing room. Barry were better than them tonight
Talking about Barry, Stokes said: “You could see they just wanted it more. They won every ball. They played certain areas really really well.
Talking about his teams next game at home to Connah’s Quay, he said: “We can’t start like we did tonight. “We just lost the basics tonight, we just didn’t get going”.
Stokes’ men have been without several of their key players over the last month. Ben Ahmun, who scored against Barry in the reverse fixture has been out since early September, meanwhile Owain Jones hasn’t featured since the end of August.
Club captain Clayton Green is another absentee and hasn’t featured in a match-day squad since the 2-0 defeat to Cardiff Met on September 8.
Pontypridd’s loss on Tuesday night could see them dragged into a relegation fight as they drop to ninth place. They face a Connah’s Quay side who have won all but one of their last six games, and that could spark trouble for a side that some pundits had been predicting for a top-six push.
