Walker ‘exasperated’ by side’s defensive flaws

The Sky Blues’ porous backline shipped four more goals in Saturday’s home defeat by Portadown to take the running total of goals conceded to a truly embarrassing 30 in 11 Carling Premiership matches.

“I am totally exasperated,” admitted Walker.

“People think we (the coaching staff) don’t know what we’re doing – we do know what we’re doing but we’re being let down by what’s happening on the pitch.

“I’m tired hearing and seeing the same things.

“It’s not like we don’t work with the players and tell them what to do and show them what to do.

“We do it harder and more than you would imagine. It defies logic that we go out and lose shape and all sorts of things from a defensive point of view.

“If you analyse who’s scoring goals against us, it’s largely centre-forwards – they are supposed to be marked by centre-halves.

“No matter what we have done defensively, it has been deckchairs on the Titanic because the goals against column doesn’t lie. Most people have played in there and most people have made mistakes.

“I don’t know what to do any more than what we have been doing. We work hard, we see things and we point them out.

“Players are not doing basic jobs and no matter how much I have told them, showed them and put them through things on the training pitch, there’s a blight on our defending.

“What you could do with me after a game is is you could record a DVD, click it in and play it because the message won’t change.

“The football club is being let down by people who are not carrying out the instructions or doing the jobs we are asking them to do – it’s not that they don’t mean to, it’s just that they switch off.

“It’s nothing to do with being at home – if you defended the way we did on Saturday on a park in Cullybackey you would lose goals,” added Roy.

United have the welcome distraction of a cup game tomorrow (Wednesday) night as they travel to Championship side Bangor (7.45pm) with a place in the quarter-final of the Irn Bru League Cup at stake, before returning to Carling Premiership action on Saturday with a trip to Crusaders (3pm).

Seven Towers Supporters’ Club transport for the Bangor game leaves Henry Street car park at 6.30pm, while on Saturday, the bus leaves from the same location at 2pm, preceded by a club meeting at 1.30pm when the club’s Joker promotion will be drawn.

Meanwhile Joe McCall is back at Ballymena United, as the club’s new Head of Youth Development.

Joe, who holds a UEFA Pro Licence, is presently assistant manager within the Northern Ireland under-16 international team and he brings a wealth of experience to the role.

As a former Ballymena United player and also assistant manager to Kenny Shiels, Joe is looking forward to his new role, which will involve working with all levels and age groups in a pivotal role for the future development of young players within the club.