Buckle lambasts ‘miserable’ Town defending as Grimsby run riot

A shocking first half performance saw Hatters trail 3-0 at Blundell Park in front of the Premier Sports camera, with all three goals conceded avoidable.

Beckwith completed his own personal nightmare in the second period with an own goal as Buckle said: “It’s very easy to break down, sometimes it’s difficult and you have to look at a DVD to work out what went wrong, but it wasn’t rocket science.

“It was just nothing balls into our 18-yard box which our two centre halves struggled miserably to try and defend.

“They couldn’t head the ball out of the 18-yard box. Grimsby’s first entry into the box wasn’t like they got round the back of us and put a wonderful ball in, it’s just a clipped ball into the box which we should be dealing with and we’re not.

“It carried on all night with Deano for the own goal. I think it’s been a big problem for the club for a long time and it’s a big problem for me now.”

Despite Beckwith being at fault for the third goal, as he dithered when dealing with a long ball forward allowing Ross Hannah to score, it seemed that Kovacs in particular bore the brunt of Buckle’s anger.

The Hungarian was hauled off at the interval for the second time in the last three games, with Connor Essam replacing last year’s supporters player of the season.

Although Lathaniel Rowe-Turner was amongst the substitutes, the boss added: “If I’d have had two centre halves I would have taken them both off. They know that, they’re good lads.

“I’ve taken him (Kovacs) off twice now. He’s a man mountain but he’s got to head the ball.

“Every time the goalkeeper kicked the ball up the field it’s basic stuff, he got beat in the air and we can’t afford that to happen.

“We’ve got to be aggressive, they’re bumping us and honest to god, I take nothing away from Grimsby, we deserved to be beaten, but if we can’t defend that we are going to struggle.

“My job as manager is to sort it out and I will sort it out quickly.”

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