Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 5:00pm

'Anything we could have done wrong in the second half, we did'

Cavan manager Tom Carr
Pic by==: 97

Cavan manager Tom Carr cut a haunted figure after the match, when he seemed to be as bemused as the press pack surrounding him as to how his team had produced such an inept performance.

"It's disappointing to go from the performance against Roscommon with the passion and the intensity and the pace of the game to that," stated Carr.

"I mean the first half was fine and we were in the game but anything that we could have done wrong in a game of football, we did wrong in the second half."

The inconsistency, it was suggested, is what baffles supporters most of all. Carr concurred.

"I think, yeah, inconsistency in performance and inconsistency in what we're doing on the pitch," he stated.

"If we could stick to what we do well, when we're able to do it well, I think that consistency would be there."

Asked about possible switches, Carr intimated that there was little he or his selectors could do to stem the tide.

"We tried," he said.

"Between switches and substitutions, I think we made nine or ten alterations to the team but there's one place you can't chase a game and that's on the sideline I'm afraid.

"We were overrun. Our mobility just wasn't up to the level hat was needed and our use of possession. We turned over 32 balls in the second half, it's about the quota we would allow for two full games."

The first half, ironically, had been fine, said Carr.

"There was some very good football played, we got forward and kicked some good scores and were tackling well - you couldn't complain with the first half.

"We came out in the second half and didn't stick to the basics of the game. Fellas don't go out and do that on purpose but it does need a huge level of concentration and commitment to keep doing the right thing all the time."

To his credit, there was little Carr or anyone on the sideline could do about a blunt forward line which featured nine players over the 70 minutes and delivered just 1-1 from play.

"We got very little return off it [the forward line]," said Carr.

"You'd also have to question the quality of the ball that was put in and the slowness at which it was put in and that's stuff that we need to address and we're going to have to look at and work on and keep coaching.

"We're going to have to up our levels of intensity and fitness and work awful, awful hard over the next three weeks not to be in a relegation dogfight."

Is it fair to say that you are unhappy with some players came the next question; Carr was coy in response.

"The first people that will be unhappy will be the players themselves and generally speaking fellas will be honest about their own performances and if they look back on that there will be a lot of things that they won't be happy with," he said.

In contrast, while the first half performance wasn't up to scratch, the "Baker" Bradley was pleased with what his troops cooked up after the break.

"We're absolutely delighted to get out of Breffni Park with two points, any time you come to Breffni you know it's going to be a tight game," stated the Glenullin native. "First half was nip and tuck, we were probably a wee bit lucky to go in level at half-time but we really opened up and played some delightful football in the second half."

Once the match opened out after the break, Cavan struggled to cope, stated the manager.

"It was very stop-start early on but there was more space created in the second half, our forwards started to move a wee bit more and I thought the Cavan defence was under a lot of pressure in the second half. We probably could have ended up getting another two or three scores," he said.

Momentum, said Bradley, is key.

"Last year I said that Antrim was a good footballing team and I think we've started off this year the way we finished last year."

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