Manager left frustrated following home defeat against Birmingham
After largely positive results at Macron Stadium since his arrival, Neil Lennon was left disappointed following defeat against Birmingham on the final day of the 2014/15 campaign.
Robert Tesche’s goal shortly before the interval decided a game that very much enveloped an end of season feel.
And speaking after the game the manager said he and his backroom staff were already looking towards next season.
“It’s a disappointing end to the season because our home form has been good,” the manager said. “But we were a bit tippy-tappy to tell you the truth.
“We looked lightweight, but we thought we would anyway with four centre-backs out injured or suspended.
“Young Quade Taylor came in and had a very good debut, but we lacked any sort of punch in the final third despite having plenty of the ball.
“Birmingham scored with one of their only shots on target and we weren’t good enough to break them down in the second half. It was symptomatic of our season really, we showed a bit of promise but we fizzled out.
“There wasn’t anything between the teams today apart from the goal. That obviously changed the psychology of the game. We ended up chasing the game a little bit. You need quality at both ends of the pitch and that is what we will endeavour to do.
“We have a mountain of work to do in terms of where we want to take the club. We’ve known that all along.
“It was important to get over the line in terms of staying up. We looked good back in November and December, but injuries to important players and the volume of injuries hit us really hard.
“It was a little bit mix-and-match towards the end of the season and I don’t want to go through that scenario again.
“It is really important we start recruitment now and we have done. We need to get the players in who we want to make us better to add the core of good players we have already.
“I think since January of February we have had at least eight players out every week. At one point we had 12 and that needs to change. Pre-season will be important in terms of getting a good level of fitness and strength up.
“We need to get some more players who are accustomed to this Championship. A little bit more experience and bit of quality because you can see that we lacked that today.”