Mike Dodds says that the first half ‘wasn’t acceptable’ but that the second half was ‘miles better’.
He also says we can’t make excuses despite the absence of Clarke.
"It didn't work, it doesn't take an expert to see that. One thing I demonstrated last time I did this and that'll I'll keep reiterating is that while I'm in this position I'll continue to make bold decisions. Sometimes that will be a positive, sometimes a negative. The ironic thing is we wanted to be really bold and aggressive in terms of tagging certain players, we were actually more reserved in terms of set up in the second half and yet we looked more aggressive. In the first half we went with a back three and almost went man-for-man on their front three, we tried to get more bodies higher up the pitch because we knew the style that they would like to play. I wasn't happy in terms of how aggressive we were, getting tighter to players. We can talk about tactics all day but when I watch it back I think I'll be most disappointed about the other side of the game, landing on second balls, tracking runners off your shoulder. They're the bits I'll be most disappointed with, I think. Clearly in the first half there was a lot that I wasn't happy with but the second half was miles better. We've got to take that first 45 on the chin, me, the staff and the players. I wouldn't have sent the players out if I wasn't confident the message was really clear, so that's something as a collective that we all have to take on the chin.I know I've been really bold in terms of my decisions and how I've tried to set up, I'm not goi