Manager Joe Conneely said he was proud of Hinckley AFC’s performance despite defeat to Dudley Town – but urged his side to learn from their mistakes.
Hinckley missed a first-half penalty and spurned a host of other chances before the break as they dominated their league-leading visitors.
And those chances came back to haunt them after half-time when the visitors scored twice from set-pieces to take the win.
That extended their lead over Hinckley in third to 11 points but Conneely felt his side couldn’t have done much more in their efforts to win.
He said: “We were fantastic in the first half. But we missed a penalty at a key stage and some big chances.
“They haven’t had a chance if we’re being blatantly honest. We pinned them back, went with the wind and the sun first half and you have to take advantage of that. We didn’t manage to do that.
“Even in the second half they didn’t really have a chance, they score from a corner that went straight in and a set piece that was a nothing ball into the box. They were two really bad goals on our behalf that teams don’t concede against us.
“That’s why Dudley are where they are. That’s why we’re 11 points behind them, because we concede bad goals like that.
“But I can’t fault what we’ve tried. We were the better team but against good teams who are defensively solid, you have to take advantage when you can. We haven’t managed to do that.”
The manager said his side needed to be more clinical in both boxes – in terms of taking their chances and preventing Dudley scoring with theirs.
He also felt Hinckley became “scrappy and untidy” after half-time and were over-eager to get back into the game with 40 minutes still to play.
And Conneely wants his side to learn from these mistakes heading into the final third of the season.
“We gave the ball away needlessly and that’s from boys wanting to get back into it as desperately as they do. You expect that in a big game in front of a big crowd, when anxiety can sometimes kick in.
“We’ve got to learn from these mistakes we’re making. We’re a good team and we’ve shown that but these are the games that matter.
“And I’m fed up of losing these games where, if you can’t win it, if you don’t have a good day in front of goal which can happen, just draw it 0-0. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have drawn that game 0-0.
He admitted Dudley’s 11-point advantage over Hinckley will “take some catching” but insisted his side will give it as much as they can in the remaining league matches.
But he was pleased to see a season-high crowd of 285 watch on at Kirkby Road and wants more crowds like that between now and the end of the season.
“I’m just disappointed we couldn’t give the home following a result.
“We knew we’d get a decent crowd especially with a few other games being off. It was a big game and had been anticipated as that.
“But it was nice to have a good crowd, 285 is pleasing. We need that support, fans get behind the boys and we’ll need more of that going forward.”
