Don’t panic! Elliott warns Boston United to keep composure after conceding

Three finishes in eight second-half minutes saw the Pilgrims beaten 3-0 at Gateshead today.

And manager Elliott believes the second and third of those goals could have been eliminated had his side not tried to force their way back into the match instantly.

“We’re not managing those situations well,” he said, reflecting upon similar scenarios this season.

“I said to the lads in there, Gloucester away, today. Even the last 10 minutes against Bradford.

“Goals change games and we just seem to think the way to get back in to it is to make it more open and be more advanced.

“It’s not. You’ve got to be boring for 5-10 minutes and slowly work your way in.

“Our three worst moments have been almost like a panic when we’ve lost a goal, like we need to get back in it straight away.

“If we get back to doing what we do and we’re just one goal down with 20 minutes to go we’ve got a good chance of getting something from the game.

“Sometimes there’s different opinions in the dressing room. Some think we should play a bit more advanced.

I think it’s about being solid and making the game dull, that’s what good teams do.”

Boston’s defence had conceded just once in 424 minutes before Nicky Deverdics, JJ O’Donnell, Dom Tear had their say.

“We were where we wanted to be at half time, put on a really good performance,” Elliott added.

“We talked about being solid and we were strong first half.

“We came out very slow and I didn’t see three goals coming as quickly as that. I was shell shocked.

“It was unlike us. You come here thinking we’re solid and we were anything but that.

“It’s hard to digest it. In the first half we had the better chances.”