Dulwich Hamlet boss on why his side are conceding so many goals in January
Dulwich Hamlet manager Paul Barnes has blamed mental fragility for his side shipping goals so heavily in January.
The National League South club lost 3-1 at home to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday.
George Porter had put Dulwich into the lead just before the interval but the visitors scored three times in the final stages through Leone Gravata, Shiloh Remy and Charlie Walker.
Hamlet have conceded 22 goals in seven matches this month.
Barnes said: “It’s almost a psychological fatigue in the players, where we allow setbacks to make us go on the back foot. Physically we looked like we ran out of steam going into that last period of the game. You then get the psychological impact which takes a little bit more wind out of the sails of the lads – it’s made us take a step back when we need to take a step forward, be a bit braver.
“Rather than being solid for five or 10 minutes after one mistake, we’re a bit fragile at the moment – so a mistake will lead to another mistake. That puts more self-doubt there and knocks confidence.
“If you look at periods where we are conceding, we are conceding goals in short spaces of time.
“It’s not like we are conceding after 20 minutes, then 40 minutes, then 60 minutes – it’s normally that we’ll concede after 10 minutes and then concede again after 12 or 13 minutes. We need to be a bit more resilient at times.”
Dulwich go to second-bottom Weymouth tomorrow.
“I said to the boys at the start of this year that it is an opportunity for them to prove they are the players who deserve to play for Dulwich Hamlet beyond this season,” said Barnes.
“We had more than 3,000 fans there on Saturday and the support has been superb. I want to thank them for sticking behind us, even at times when we’re conceding and not picking up points. We want to start rewarding them.”
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