Misfiring Town lack instinct

When asked the reason why his team had failed to kill off their 10-man opponents after leading 1-0, Brabin said: “Instinct. We can’t just keep relying on Stuart Fleetwood for that. Everyone’s got to show hunger and desire in the box. Amari’s got goals, Fleets has been scoring, but we do need more from the rest of the side.

“I thought there was enough in and around the box that people should be getting on the end of.

“That’s something we need to address. Before, people were saying we always look like scoring goals, and we should score more. It’s something that we’re aware of and something we’re going to have to be working on.”

Romans keeper Glyn Garner had a superb game with wonder saves from Amari Morgan-Smith’s free-kick and Jamie Hand’s late daisycutter, but Brabin said: “We feel like we say that all the time.

“Goalies are paid to play well and they are long range efforts.

“There were a couple of things that have been whipped across the goal where we should be getting on the end of them.”

Morgan-Smith showed his instincts in the box just before the break, netting his seventh goal of the campaign, but a late booking means he is now out of the trip to York City on Saturday.

Brabin added: “He got wound up. When you’ve got people nicking at your heels like that.

“I felt first half the referee could have been a bit more punishing to the opponents.

“He was 10-15 minutes too late with the sending off, but we’ve gone a goal up and should have had a second.”