We're back on it

I thought we were unfortunate to lose in the end. I thought we gelled together really well, but we just couldn’t find that one chance to win it in the end. We needed to get a goal, but I thought we were unfortunate to concede so late on.

It was a great goal to win it too, so sometimes you just have to hold your hand up when you get beat by a good goal like that. It’s just a shame it came so late and we didn’t have enough time to get ourselves back in it.

I thought we looked strong and organised from the start and I felt as though I’d been there for a while.

Briggsy at left-back played really well and got forward well, and Martin Kelly was defending well and coming out with the ball.

We did well as a group and the midfield helped in that by working hard, but we just couldn’t get that crucial goal.

The Uruguayan coach said afterwards that we were one of the most well organised teams they had come up against so if we can carry on like that in the next few games, and maybe get a goal too then we should be okay.

Whilst we were down straight after the game, the spirit and mood in the camp was still good because the lads knew that we’d played well and if we can perform like that against Ghana and Uzbekistan, then we have a chance of winning.

We realise that we aren’t out of the tournament yet and we’ve actually played together for the first time quite well.

The focus is now onto the game with Ghana on Tuesday. We saw a bit of Ghana when they played Uzbekistan before our game and I personally don’t think there’s anything to fear so we’re just looking forward to it.

Sunday was quite a chilled out day. We got back to the hotel quite late after the game so we had a rest and then a session of stretching and a swimming pool recovery.

In the evening, we had a change of scenery for dinner and had a barbeque outside by the pool. It was nice to get out of the dining room and have something a little different and I think all of the lads appreciated that.

A few of us then had a game of poker in the evening. There was about six of us playing, Kieran and Febian were the first to get knocked out. It was getting quite late in the end so we couldn’t properly finish the game but Paul Marshall was the winner. Marshy’s not a special player or anything like that though, I think he just got lucky.

But we’re back on it today, working on set pieces and so on, so we hope to be ready when Tuesday comes around. If we can beat them and then beat Uzbekistan, we should be alright.