Wanderers boss says football’s festive fixture pile up was just ridiculous

9:15am Monday 9th January 2006

JOHN Gorman blasted his side's hectic festive programme after three matches in five days ended with a 5-4 defeat at home to Macclesfield.

Gorman, who has been suffering from a virus, saw his side fight back from 3-0 down after 13 minutes to lead 4-3, only to be denied by Jon Parkin's double strike for the Silkmen.

The Wanderers boss said: "It was a horrendous start for us and I don't want to make excuses but we've had a hell of a fixture run.

"Maybe I made a mistake in not changing the squad and freshening up a few faces but the lads were all adamant that they were all feeling good.

"But I have to give credit to Macclesield Town they are the only team that has beaten us at home this season and I have to say very well done to them.

"But it has been ridiculous playing three matches on the trot. We've had four matches in eight days and now we've got two weeks before a game.

"It was stupid having to play so many games together, but we've all got to accept that's what they do and the fans will go away and say it was great entertainment."

But Gorman was keen to take the positives from the nine-goal thriller.

He said: "It was a roller-coaster game but we won't let our heads go down over this. We will learn from this.

"But again we've shown what a great attacking team we are and have shown the tremendous character that we have in the team."

Midfielder Stefan Oakes said: "The fans will have really got their monies worth but for us it was an embarrassing start. Three-nil down after 13 minutes we didn't know what was going on and to be fair we could have been five down.

"We could have caved in then but at least we gave our fans something to shout about.

"We knew we could come back and when we equalised we thought we could go on and win it by a couple of goals but credit to Macclesfield.

"It's been a tough programme and the gap at the top is closing. It would have been great to get the three points to put a bit of daylight between us and the others. We've got two weeks now before the Notts County game and we've got to make sure we get three points then."