Ossett United management team looking for players to roll their sleeves up after heavy defeat at Cleethorpes

After making a promising start under new management team Jas Colliver and Mark Ward the honeymoon period was very much over as Ossett United came off the rails in a big way as they suffered a shock 7-1 hammering at Cleethorpes Town.
Ossett United's management team have promised a tough week for the players as they prepare to face leaders Liversedge after losing heavily at Cleethorpes Town.Ossett United's management team have promised a tough week for the players as they prepare to face leaders Liversedge after losing heavily at Cleethorpes Town.
Ossett United's management team have promised a tough week for the players as they prepare to face leaders Liversedge after losing heavily at Cleethorpes Town.

United were level at 1-1 until just before half-time following Aaron Haswell’s equaliser to a 19th minute Scott Vernon goal, but fell away alarmingly, although two late goals made the final score look perhaps worse than the performance.

Joint manager Colliver did not mince his words afterwards, however.

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He said: “We weren’t at it any-where, we were second best all over the pitch.

“We had to make amendments and changes – we lost three before we travelled and one in the warm-up – but there’s no excuse.

“We knew we were going to be up against it. We’ve read a lot about Cleethorpes, we’ve researched them and watched them – they were at their full strength and they were bang at it. If you come here and you’re not bang at it you get turned over.

“It’s a tough week ahead. We’ve got to regroup, we’ve said we’ve got to draw a line under it. If we start feeling for ourselves we’ll travel to Liversedge on Friday and be really up against it.

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“We had a target of points in the month, that’s still on so let’s roll our sleeves up and see where it takes us.”

Ossett’s other joint manager Ward echoed Colliver’s words and agreed they would not be looking for excuses.

He said: “I see across social media excuses being made, but if you are in the squad you are good enough to be in that squad. We believe in you just as much as anybody else.

“You can’t just say ‘we’ve got that player out and this player out and that’s why we lost’. People have done jobs out of position, but they’ve got to do them to a standard as well.

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“They’ve had an opportunity to earn a shirt. We ease off a little bit with square pegs in round holes sort of thing, but still as a group you’re good enough and when that chance comes you’ve got to be fit enough, you’ve got to be sharp enough, you’ve got to be listening to information and take it on board. You’ve got to be accountable for your performance.

“They were a very well drilled side, a group of them have been together a while with promotion through from the Northern Counties to this level. They have a game plan, they stick to it and they work their nuts off. If you do that you’ll get results.”

Vernon’s second goal and Jordan Cooke’s effort right on half-time proved crucial in giving Cleethorpes a platform for the second half and they added four more unanswered goals after the break with Vernon completing his hat-trick and further efforts coming from Brody Robertson, McCauley Snelgrove and Jack McMenemy.

Ossett now face a huge task to bounce straight back as they face a big West Yorkshire derby in front of a likely bumper crowd at top of the table Liversedge on Friday night (7.45pm).

Sedge recently went through a bit of a blip as they lost their first league game for more than two years, but appear to be back on track with back to back victories in the last week.

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