Drury praises Doughboys but left frustrated by Steelmen defensive lapses
Graham Drury praised runaway leaders Wellingborough Town after their 4-1 derby day success on Saturday - but the Corby Town boss also bemoaned some costly basic errors from his side.
The Steelmen remain in the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division relegation zone, with the weekend loss leaving them second from bottom, four points adrift of safety.
It was a first defeat at the helm for Drury after he took over from Leon Mettam, and the former Peterborough Sports boss admitted the Doughboys were worthy winners.
But he was also left frustrated by his players giving Jake Stone's side a helping hand or two at Steel Park as they gifted 'soft goals' to the league leaders.
Danny Draper fired Borough in front after three minutes, but Ryan Boothe levelled six minutes before the break, scoring on the rebound after his penalty was saved by Dean Snedker.
Slack defending five minutes into the second-half then allowed Doughboys captain and top-scorer Jack O'Connor to bundle home from close range from a corner, before goals from Zayn Hakeen and Ethan Johnston completed the scoring.
"A massive load of credit has to go to Wellingborough," Drury told @chuckmiddleton.
"They have gone 12 games unbeaten in the league, winning 11 and getting one draw and you can see they have a good structure about them.
"They are physically strong and I thought they bullied us from the frontline and all the way through the team to be fair.
"So credit to them and you can see they are a well-oiled machine.
"But when you give them legs up like we did... for the first goal we have given a sloppy pass and Drapey has come up with a great finish.
"We work ourselves back into it, we get to 1-1, and we say to the lads at half-time 'don't give them the same start', and unfortunately Whitey (Lewis White) has gone to sleep at the back post.
"The instructions are there, I can't sugarcoat it and I don't normally knock players, but Whitey knew his instruction was to watch the number five (O'Connor) and he gets a free tap in.
"We have gifted them the first two goals and then a third as well, and when you are playing the team at the top of the league the thing you can't do is give soft goals away and we have given away three of them.
"When you are playing against a team like Wellingborough you can't afford to do that."
And he added: "The first contacts from our defenders weren't good enough and they got a lot of flick-ons.
"They played the percentages a lot, they put the ball in the right areas, and we didn't do that.
"We tried to play a diamond to try and play through their press, and to try and find the overload in midfield but we weren't tidy enough with the ball.
"If you're not tidy with the ball you miss that man out and it becomes ineffective."
Corby have a free midweek before returning to league action on Saturday with a trip to Barwell.