DEVASTATED goalkeeper Neil Collett should not be blamed for Nuneaton Towns FA Cup exit, according to manager Kevin Wilkin.
Boro lost 1-0 at Nantwich Town in the fourth qualifying round on Saturday after Collett fumbled Matt Lowe’s tame cross into his net on 68 minutes.
The keeper was in tears on the final whistle but Wilkin says he and the rest of the team must look at themselves first and foremost.
He said: “Neil is gutted, but I look outside that and the others haven’t done enough. The 10 other players and the rest of us have to take some responsibility as well.
“Yes he’s made a mistake but we’ve not done enough to get a goal back. He’s saved us enough times this season.
“Players in front of him owe it to him to get him out of a hole because you could see how devastated he was.
“All day long I would back him to come back from this. He’s been great.”
The game was well poised at 0-0 and generally looked like one goal would settle it. In the end the Evo Stik Northern Premier Division side got it and pocketed £12,500 along with a tie against the MK Dons in the first round.
Wilkin felt Boro had the best of the second half, but he said the failure to score was simply ‘not good enough’.
“First half they never let us settle.
They had some half chances and we gave too many cheap free-kicks away.
“I thought in the second half we looked more in control. I felt like it was opening out for us but we went behind at a crucial point.
“We had to scrap and battle. Some lads did ok but we’ve got to come to Nantwich and at least score.
“We’ve put three decent crosses in first half and only got on the end of one of them.
“We had three or four corners in succession at the end of the first half but overall we’ve not got a goal – that’s not good enough.
“We had fantastic backing from the away fans. For them to see us knocked out like that is disappointing, really disappointing,”
To rub salt into the wounds, star midfielder Kevin Thornton suffered another hamstring injury.
He had to stay on though as Boro had made all their changes. He looks like being out for a month at the very least, although further assessments will take place this week.
Thornton’s injury came shortly after Nantwich were reduced to 10 men in the 78th minute when Chris Flynn was sent off.
Wilkin felt not only was the red card unfair on Flynn, but it hampered Boro’s momentum along with Thornton’s injury.
“I thought the red card was a bit harsh. We made the changes to try and make the advantage tell but within minutes Kevin got injured and that nullified things.
“The goal rocked us but we never got any momentum to our play with the red card and Kevin’s injury,” he said.
LEFT-BACK Aaron James has joined Rugby Town on loan in order to get match fitness after a hamstring injury. As a non contract player he can be recalled at any point.
