Boston boss Graham Coughlan frustrated by "bad defensive display" following heavy defeat at Hartlepool United
Boston United manager Graham Coughlan was frustrated by his side's "bad defensive display" following Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Hartlepool United.
The Pilgrims had been targeting a sixth successive away win which could have moved them out of the relegation zone for the first time since Coughlan replaced Ian Culverhouse in November. It's been a challenging season for the Pilgrims, who won promotion to the National League via the National League North play-offs last term but parted company with Norwich legend Culverhouse following a run of 13 games without a win. Despite picking up three points against Braintree in Coughlan's first game in charge, the Pilgrims didn't seem to have a prayer at the turn of the year after another frustrating winless run. However, a shock win over title-chasing York at the end of January seemed to spark the Lincolnshire side into life and Boston arrived at the Prestige Group Stadium unbeaten in their last six matches and on the cusp of climbing out of the bottom four.
Despite decent backing from more than 260 travelling fans, Boston struggled to get going against a Pools side who hadn't won at home since New Year's Day but produced one of their best performances of an underwhelming campaign. While the scoreline might suggest a one-sided contest, there was a stage at the start of the second half, with the visitors 2-1 down, when Boston looked like getting back into the game. The impressive Jacob Hazel, who scored his eighth goal in 13 games in the first half, almost lobbed the onrushing Adam Smith only for an unfortunate bounce of the ball to divert his effort over the bar, while Jai Rowe missed a gilt-edged chance to draw the Pilgrims level. In the end Boston were left to lament careless defending and poor finishing - problems which have plagued Pools in recent weeks - as their survival hopes were dealt a big blow in the North East.
"We caused ourselves a lot of problems, we caused ourselves a lot of issues," Coughlan told Boston's official club website.
"The goals we conceded were really, really poor. We defended badly, it was a bad defensive display. It's not like them, hopefully it's a one-off.
"It just wasn't our day, summed up when Jacob Hazel's goalbound effort bounces over the bar. Then Rowey (Jai Rowe) gets in at the back stick, it's just a slot in the back of the net and it goes over the stand. Those little moments didn't go our way. They have been going our way over the last five away games, but they didn't go our way today. We're bitterly disappointed obviously, but we can't live in the moment. We've got to let this moment go - we're going to assess it, debrief it and move onto the next moment. Our next action has to be positive."