Pool defender happy with goal double

Carl Magnay said he was pleased with his brace in the 3-3 draw with Crewe Alexandra, but is keen to see the end of the Pools' defensive errors.
Carl Magnay celebrates his second goalCarl Magnay celebrates his second goal
Carl Magnay celebrates his second goal

Having netted from 25 yards to level the scores in the first half, Magnay said he was disappointed to see some sloppy defending hand the hosts the lead again only moments later.

But the full-back said his sides attacking options made him confident that the visitors could claw their way back into the game at Gresty Road.

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With Pools having fallen behind to Craig Dagnall’s strike just after the half hour, Magnay levelled five minutes before the break with a fine curling effort.

And the defender admitted a shot wasn’t the first thing on his mind: “When I first got the ball I wanted to whip it in but I was closed down quite quickly so I had to skip inside. It opened up nicely and I thought ‘why not?’

“I try them in training quite regularly and the odd one comes off. I can’t say I’ve got a great strike rate but I back myself and I think I’ve got decent technique with my left foot.”

Only four minutes after the ex-Chelsea man’s leveller, Pools found themselves behind again as Alex Kiwomya found space to fire home from inside the area.

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“It was bitterly disappointing as that goal was forgotten straight away,” added Magnay.

“It was a nice moment for me personally but you have to forget about it and we then conceded fairly quickly.

“That was fairly sloppy goal and we feel we could have closed him down quicker and not allowed him to turn in the box.

“These are things that we have to eradicate - we have to be sharper to the ball.

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Having later fallen 3-1 down before Padraig Amond netted his first goal for the club to reduce the arrears, Magnay then popped up with an unlikely second to level the scores.

“I saw it late because I thought Billy (Paynter) was going to get something on it,” he said.

“He missed it and it skipped up off the turf and I had to adjust.

“It sat up on a plate for me and I just had to react and get some direction on it, which thankfully I did.”

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Having levelled, Pools were not content with just a points, as Craig Hignett urged his side to push forward in search of a winner.

Magnay said this is all part of Hignett’s attacking philosophy.

“What we get from the gaffer is that he wants to win games,” he added. “He’s an attack-minded manager.”

“You have to manage games but we felt that every time we went forward in the second half we could score.

“We were opening Crewe up, particularly down the flanks, and I think that’s because there was a genuine belief that we could score.”