Moseley coach Ian Smith sees the positives despite defeat at Nottingham

Dec 15 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail

IAN Smith was pleased with the way Moseley performed at Nottingham on Sunday, despite the fact his side slipped to their fifth consecutive defeat.

The reverse was undoubtedly harsh on the visitors and Smith felt it was only a handful of critical incidents that proved the difference between the side standing third in the Championship and his in eighth.

Apart from a couple of missed scoring chances and the odd defensive lapse, Moseley were more than a match for Glenn Delaney’s men.

“It was a much improved performance,” Smith said.

“From a coaching point of view it pretty much went to plan, we could not have got much better apart from a couple of critical decisions.

“Things like the Jonny May error and Ryan’s mistake and a couple of kicking options. But it’s a shame to pay too much attention to them because there were many more things that went right.

“In the end it came down to them having some key players around the pitch.

“We put ourselves in with a chance and controlled a large part of the game, we just couldn’t capitalise on those key moments.”

Smith also defended his team’s decision to go for goal when presented with several decent attacking positions in the first half.

However, one downside was the fact Dan Williams damaged ankle ligaments and will be out for between four and six weeks.

That means James Rodwell’s return from England Sevens duty could not be better timed with three matches against sides in the lower reaches of the Championship coming up.