Kinniburgh rues a poor finish as Steelmen lose out again

Steven Leslie takes the congratulations after scoring from the penalty spot but Corby Town were unable to hold on to their lead as they were beaten 2-1 by Frickley Athletic. Pictures by Alison Bagley

The Steelmen had produced a decent display and led 1-0 against second-placed Frickley Athletic thanks to Steven Leslie’s penalty on the hour.

But a late capitulation proved costly and Gavin Allott struck twice in the last 10 minutes to give the visitors their seventh league win in a row.

The defeat has left Corby six points off the play-off places and the caretaker-manager didn’t mix his words in the aftermath.

A Frickley player gets hold of Jordon Crawford's shirt at Steel Park

“In the last 10 minutes, the concentration has gone,” Kinniburgh said.

“The massive rule when you are a defender and you are 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go is to just clear the ball.

“We were messing about with the ball back there too often and they have caught us out and that’s the bottom line.

“We had five new boys in the team today and there were lots of good, positive things from them. The link up play going forward, especially in the second half, through Matt Gardner was really good.

Corby's Connor Kennedy chases down a Frickley opponent

“We got the penalty, we had the goal that was offside and another couple of half-chances all in the second half.

“There were lots of positives and we were sitting there 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go and it’s a lack of concentration and a lack of proper defending that has cost us the game today.

“You look at the team as a whole and there are a lot of pass marks from a lot the boys - the midfielders and strikers.

“And the defenders are now going to have to step up and start earning their money.

“At the end of the day, we have not kept a clean sheet for a long old time and in the last three games we have been beaten by the odd goal.

“And those odd goals turn into points and it can keep you in contention for things in the league.

“So that’s the disappointing thing. We are one up with 10 minutes to go and we can’t defend properly.”

Kinniburgh, meanwhile, insisted it was his team’s poor defending that was solely to blame for the loss after new boy Matt Gardner had an effort ruled out for what looked like a tight offside call just three minutes before Frickley equalised.

“The linesmen are there to do a job and you have to take their word for it,” the Corby boss added.

“You have to go with what they say but if we just defend properly and put the ball 40 yards down the field then there isn’t any contention over an offside.

“I am not going down the road of talking about referees because if we defend properly, we get three points.”