Manager James Jepson was pleased to get three points on the board at Chelmsley Town on Saturday, but admitted “we’ve played better.”
AFC came from a goal down at half time to turn the game on its head, goals from Josh Spencer and Louis Hamilton securing all three points.
But though Jepson was pleased with the character shown to turn the game around, he said they weren’t quick enough on the ball before half time.
He said: “The first half was too sluggish. We switched off for their goal and went in a goal down.
“I felt like we had to change things so we brought Matt Antcliff on instead of Mahmoud and brought Tom into the centre to get the ball moving quicker.
“We needed to up the tempo, the first half was workmanlike rather than fluid.
“But in the second half, up until the penalty, I felt like there would only be one winner. Adam kept us ahead with a superb save after a bit of brilliance from Louis we got the three points.”
Spencer’s debut came as he replaced Toby Moore, after the centre back joined Carlton Town this week. Jepson was disappointed in the way Moore went about the move.
“They were in for him in pre-season, he asked for a trial there, but we wanted him and convinced him to sign for us.
“He’d been playing really well, and we told him so after the Heather game, but then he rang me up and said he wasn’t enjoying it and that he wanted to play with his mates.
“Five minutes later we had a call from the Carlton manager telling me that he’d asked to go there.
“That shows us a lack of respect. If a higher level club comes in then of course they have to look at that, but they need to do it in the right way.”
But the former Rugby Town boss was pleased with the way Spencer settled into the back line, as well as fellow new signing Richard Hanslow, and wants to add another new face before this week’s home game against Heath Hayes.
“Considering he hasn’t played a competitive game since he was in the States, he did well. He built up a good understanding with Jay, who was superb again yesterday.
“We added Itchy too, and hopefully we can bring in one more before next week’s game. We’ve got a good squad of players now, and it’s giving me a headache – but a good headache.
“We want to be successful and we want the right sort of players, who want to buy in to what me, John and Donal are doing. We need to maintain the good standards, that’s what we expect and that’s what the fans expect.”
