Daryl McMahon thought Fleet’s higher-tempo game in the second half was key to clawing back their half-time deficit and hailed his players’ ability to step up a gear once they got level.
“It was a fully deserved win from my perspective,” McMahon told BBC Radio Kent’s Charles Webster. “I thought we played some good stuff, Drury’s passes, Deering, both were outstanding and the lads who came on had an impact as well.
“We know when we score and we get on that front foot that we’re hard to stop. You’ll always miss Danny Kedwell but I think we have different players who bring different qualities to Keds and they’re all good players as well. We’ve got goals from all over the pitch and on the bench.”
The Fleet manager wasn’t overly concerned with his side’s first-half display though admitted his players were initially too slow. “I thought we played OK, the tempo was a little bit slow, a bit pedestrian,” he said. “We didn’t move it quick enough. We weren’t exciting enough in terms of shots and crosses and getting into dangerous positions. I thought in the second half we did that a lot better and upped the tempo a little bit.”
Like many of those watching from the sidelines, McMahon was also left perplexed by some of referee Elliott Kaye’s decisions, in particular his denial of a penalty midway through the second half. “We could have had three [penalties] today with Sam Deering, the second one in particular for me I don’t know what part of the ball their lad got. Deering’s gone inside of him and cleaned him out, it’s a penalty. The third one that we actually got was probably the least of them. I thought the referee was a bit inconsistent today but it happens. Everyone has a bad day.”
One player who didn’t have a bad day was Aaron McLean and McMahon was delighted for the striker for all his hard work in recuperation. “It was great for Mac and obviously he set up Bubby as well for the third one,” the Fleet boss said. “You’ve seen the reaction from the players, they all ran to him. I think everyone knows how hard he’s worked behind the scenes that people don’t see. He gets here on Saturdays and has done long hours in the gym when he’s by himself. And after the game Andy Drury gave him his bottle of champagne so the atmosphere and togetherness in that group is very good.”
The title race winds its way to Margate on Monday and with the relegated Gate packed with familiar faces, McMahon will remind his players not to let their guard down: “I think they’ll be a little bit gung-ho, they’ll go for us a little bit. We’ve got a lot of ex-players there, a lot of ex-members of staff. We’ll be no different than we have been for the whole year.”
Listen to the full interview below.
https://soundcloud.com/eufcofficial/daryl-mcmahon-after-eastbourne
