Rai Simons’ Ilkeston FC Manager Kevin Wilson today admitted he was disappointed with Ilkeston FC’s 2-0 defeat at Coalville Town but issued a sharp reminder that: “You don’t win anything in pre-season.”
The Ilketson boss chose to completely re-shape the team compared to the players on duty at Gresley FC and although it provided a great opportunity for some of them to press their claims for a place against Witton Albion, not too many responded to the challenge.
Explained Wilson: “I felt we needed to have a closer look at some of the lads who haven’t figured too much in the pre-season games so far but overall, it was a disappointing exercise.
“You don’t win anything in pre-season but you can learn a lot from the games and last night certainly came into that category.
“There were positives and negatives. When we got the ball down and played, we looked a decent side but the final ball wasn’t good enough and we didn’t play with any real tempo - especially in the first half.”
Goals after 13 and 65 minutes clinched victory for Coalville while the closest Ilkeston FC came to scoring were an effort from Luke Shaw that struck the crossbar and a volley from Simons, who went on as a substitute when trialist Massiah McDonald was withdrawn.
Added Wilson: “I keep saying that it’s important for supporters to see the bigger picture and that’s never more true than now. I can understand that some of them are feeling frustrated but we are where we are.
“We’re still a very young football club, still very much at the learning stage and we have to live within our means and concentrate on continuing to move forward.
“In the grand scheme of things, we are a lot better off in overall terms than we were at this stage last year and because of the make-up of our squad, we’ll continue to get stronger as we go along.”
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