Newark & Sherwood manager Romaine Graham on 4-0 derby defeat to Newark Town and protecting players ahead of Notts Senior Cup final
Newark & Sherwood’s heavy derby defeat at Newark Town came with mitigating circumstances for manager Romaine Graham.
The Highwaymen ended the United Counties League Premier Division North campaign with a 4-0 loss at rivals Newark Town on Easter Monday.
They trailed 3-0 after 11 minutes and a fourth followed on the hour mark as the Blues ran riot.
The visitors lost goalkeeper Nykah Liburd-Hines to injury in the warm-up, meaning a rare appearance for Beau Watson, who had a difficult day.
That didn’t help their cause while there was also the matter of trying to protect players with the Notts Senior Cup final against Hucknall coming up on May 6.
They had Marley Fearon and Kane Auld sent off for second bookings in a goalless draw with Sleaford on Saturday, ruling them out of the final.
The last thing they wanted was to suffer any more suspensions or injuries with a chance to win silverware on the horizon.
“Newark are a good side,” said Graham. “I think league positions would tell you it was going to be a difficult game for us to win but it was one where everything that could go wrong went wrong.
“We lost our goalie in the warm-up so our keeper-coach had to jump in and he had a shocker, to be honest.
“The first one he’s got to do better with and you could just see that knocked the stuffing out of the lads.
“That nervousness that goes through the team when you’ve got a goalie you’re not sure about makes it really difficult, it has a massive impact on everything else.
“Beau, bless him, he’s a good lad and he stepped in but it wasn’t his best day.
“They just went at us but it’s one of those when I reflect on it, the odds were stacked against us because they could play it like a cup final and we couldn’t.
“We’ve lost Marley and Kane, who can’t play in the final, so going into that game, you don’t want to lose anyone else.
“I think in the first 30 minutes, Newark must have had five yellow cards.
“They were crunching in on us and you don’t want anything to escalate or you don’t want your players to get booked because they might miss the final, so it was difficult to play it like a derby.
“It’s really fine margins because even if you need to break up an attack, you’re a bit wary, you don’t want the wrong player to do it and if there’s a little bit of a scuffle, we seem to get carded for everything.”
Graham, who offered players the chance to come off at half-time, felt his team improved after the break but there was no way back.
“We went in at half-time and it was a bit sombre,” he said.
“I had to lift the lads back up. I said you’ve got to believe. First of all, I said if you don’t want it, I don’t mind, put your hand up and I’ll take you off because football at this level is unforgiving.
“They looked down but none of them put their hand up and we came out and responded well, but then they scored from a long-range effort outside the box which you’d expect the keeper to do better with.
“We’ve missed a couple of chances but we were causing some problems and getting shots off. I don’t want to over-analyse it, I just want to concentrate on the Hucknall game.”
Newark & Sherwood have finished 13th, well short of their initial target of a play-off place.
Expectations were raised by a bright start to the season but they tailed off as the challenges of playing out of town at Harrowby in Grantham began to catch up with them.
“It’s been a crazy ride this season,” said Graham, whose side will report back for training on Wednesday in preparation for the cup final.
“We set out to be a play-off team and we started really well but you don’t realise how much these intangibles play a part.
“We haven’t got a home ground, so we haven’t got the biggest fanbase because we’re playing in Grantham, which is a bit of a journey for anyone in Newark, and through those months you just need something else to cling on to.
“I think that’s where we really struggled, and then it’s always difficult to attract players.
“I quickly came to realise that play-offs was probably going to be a tall order because you’ve got serial play-off teams who are established, so top half would have been more realistic.
“I think we’ve slightly under-achieved but not as much as you might think and it’s probably because we had such a good start, so it’s how do you look at these things?
“Last season, we started really poor and I came in and we finished ridiculously strong, and then we started really well this season, and then the form’s been terrible.
“We’ve probably arrived where we should be.
“We’re in a cup final and if we win it probably goes down as a good season.”
