Barry Gray Newry City v Crusaders post match 23/03/2024
Newry City manager Barry Gray felt as though his side missed an opportunity to close the gap on Ballymena United, in their 1-0 loss at home to Crusaders this afternoon.
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00:00 Barry a 1-0 defeat today, do you feel as though you deserve something out of the game?
00:04 Yeah we did, we're frustrated. It's a 1-0 defeat, we've created good opportunities for a missed penalty, one clear off the line, probably another Schauffer penalty, plus another really good opportunity.
00:18 We restricted Crusaders to little and I thought the team done really well, set up a game plan for a very difficult opposition and they carried out that really well.
00:31 Compared to where we were this time last week, Cup lead in Windsor, I was hugely frustrated and disappointed with this week.
00:38 After that performance it gives you strength that you can go into the split game and be prepared for what's coming.
00:45 You went with the back five today, did you feel you got solidity defensively and do you feel that's something you might use going forward?
00:52 Yeah we did, lots of personnel changes today, forced on Trice, a shape change, some detail that we wanted to look at to see whether it was worth the while considering it for the split games.
01:06 We've got five games in the split and like I said when I first took over, if it was in our hands going into the split we'd be very happy.
01:14 The gap's tiny, we know it's a one game swing. Today's performance and what we've seen in some of the players' performances is pleasing, not brilliant but pleasing.
01:25 We think we're in a situation now where we can plan our way for the next five games in a positive fashion.
01:32 You've touched on it, there's a two point gap remains behind Ballymena, five games to go, a couple of weeks ago things maybe weren't looking just as good.
01:40 Not that you're happy with the situation but would you have taken it maybe a few weeks back?
01:45 Yeah, I think when the gap gets tighter and then you have performances and games like today where you feel you could have took a win today to be fair.
01:57 That doesn't change the facts of anything, it just builds frustration just in where we are at this minute in time.
02:05 The two point gap can stay there right until the last game of the season, it doesn't really bother me as long as we shift it into the next five weeks.
02:13 We know we need three points better off than Ballymena who are the next five games and that's where the target purely lies.
02:24 There's no point looking at game five, we just look at game one at the minute and we see can we lift our performance levels and get ahead of it and bring that into the next game.
02:33 You're undermanned today as well, five changes from last week, five probably regular starters, Sally, Paul, McCaffrey, McGivern and Doyle.
02:41 Do you have any update on where those boys are at and when they might be back out?
02:46 We'll have some of them obviously a week off now, a Saturday off, next Saturday. We hope to have all, potentially all, back for the next game, all going well.
02:59 But we don't know, we'll just sit that and see over the next week or so.