Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat to Bristol City at Plainmoor gave TUFC head coach Gary Owers food for thought ahead of United’s final pre-season match against Dorchester Town on Saturday.
Despite an improved second half display, United were a little of the pace in the first half.
“My feeling at the end of 90 minutes is disappointment,” said Owers. “We stood off them in the first half and we didn’t offer much as an attacking threat. Slightly improved in the second half but come up a little short.
“After two tough games and all the excitement it was probably always going to be a more difficult evening against a younger team. Fair play to them [Bristol], I thought they opened us up at times – took the goals well. We were a little bit off it tonight.”
Despite not reaching the same level as in previous pre-season matches, Owers is confident that the slight dip in performance is temporary.
“The group’s been excellent. Two massive performances last week against testing opposition. They came through that with flying colours. It’s all about learning and we’ve had a good chat in there [the changing room]. I think this is a group that understand it that it wasn’t good enough. We’ll be working hard between now and the start of the season to make sure we’re ready but I think we’re on track.
“We looked a little bit leggy as well, I think that showed at times this evening. We’re still training, we’re still in pre-season. We had a really tough session on Monday, sort of a running session.
“We haven’t lost any points and we’ll get ready now for Saturday.”