Reed pleased with Leighton's second-half response
Paul Reed says he was delighted with Leighton Town’s second-half display as they won 3-1 at Beaconsfield Town on Saturday.
A goalless first-half was followed by Leighton flying out of the blocks in the second, scoring twice in the opening five minutes of the half through Sam McLelland and Lynton Goss, with Goss soon adding a third before a late Beaconsfield consolation.
And Reed told the club’s media that a few stern half-time words seemed to help stir his team into action.
He said: “I was really pleased with the win. We started off OK for ten or 15 minutes but then Beaconsfield started to get some pressure on, particularly in wide areas, and we were keen to get our lads in at half-time to address things as it wasn’t good enough.
"To be fair to the boys they took on the information, applied themselves so much better in the second-half and once we got the early goal we were so dominant.
"In the end, 3-1 could have been four or five and although we were disappointed to concede the goal at the end it was a good strike from the lad and it’s still a very good win for us.
"We still need to make sure we get more than 45 minutes out of the lads – it was similar at Enfield, but the fitness levels are coming through and teams are often dying off against us later in games.”
Leighton were then back in action on Monday night with a trip to Biggleswade FC, after this week’s Observer had gone to press.
And Reed added that decisions had to be made in the Beaconsfield game to protect some players who he would have wanted to feature 48 hours later, with two substitutions being made just after going 2-0 up partly having Monday’s game in mind.
He added: “Monday was in the back of our mind but we’ll have to refresh it again there as we can’t go into that game with the same starting eleven as we have to look at the bigger picture and manage the boys with their physical loads.
"So there are some conversations to be had as we have one or two available again after injury and suspension but this is why you try and have a strong squad, and the ones who have had to be patient will be given the chance to show what they can do.”
This weekend then sees Leighton host Barton Rovers, who sat fourth in the table after last Saturday’s games, with Leighton now 11th.