Senior players must take leading role says Ford

Two costly errors at Biggleswade Town saw the Puritans return empty-handed in Saturday’s Evo-Stik Southern League 2-1 defeat. And Ford said there are enough players with experience to look after those who are still adapting to football at premier division level.

Ford said: “Our defending was awful, we had three central defenders and no-one dealt with the cross into the six-yard box for their winner.

“We must have had 80 per cent possession in the second half, even though we didn’t have enough quality in the final third, and our set-piece deliveries were awful.

“The players just seemed to accept those things but as individuals they need to take responsibility and demand more of each other which they didn’t do.

“The more senior players, and we haven’t got that many, need to take more responsibility out on the pitch.

“We were attacking non-stop in the second half but we weren’t set up to defend if we lost the ball. We weren’t able to cope when we lost the ball trying to play out from the back.”