Manager Courtney Belford admitted his Hinckley AFC side didn’t defend as well as Kimberley Miners Welfare in the visitors’ 3-2 win at Kirkby Road.
Miners took a big step towards the Division One title after winning by the odd goal in five.
It gave them a nine-point lead at the top going into the final four games.
And Belford admitted that his side were found wanting at the back. He said: “They defended their goal better. They sat in and hit us on the counter attack.
“They were clinical, and had a desire to put their body on the line and keep the ball out of the net which we seem not to have at the moment.
“It’s a bit of a lost art, that character to talk and organise and have that desire, whether that’s a goalkeeper, defender or anyone.
“We’re having to outscore teams. We’ve scored twice at home against top of the league. That should be enough to get something but we’re having to score threes and fours which we’re not going to do all the time.”
The manager felt it was a good game to watch for the near 300 crowd inside Kirkby Road. It was the sixth highest attendance at this level across the country at the weekend.
And, with Kimberley only needing four more points to secure the title, said they were at the top on merit.
“It was a great advert for step six football. When you give everything, you can shake everybody’s hand. When you’re not quite good enough, you hold your hands up.
“They were the better team and any team that’s not lost since November deserves to be champions. They’re worthy champions.
“They’ve gone about their business very quietly. They need a few more points but that’ll be wrapped up and they fully deserve it.”
Belford now wants his side to learn from their last three defeats going into the play-offs.
AFC have lost to Belper United, Radford and Kimberley in the last three weeks but the manager says his side need to finish strongly and take momentum into the play-offs.
“There’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves. The aim was to win the league but come August, if we win the play-offs, no-one remembers how we got there (to step five). So we’ve got to make sure we pick ourselves up.
“We’ve got four games to go. We need to make sure we finish as high as we can to be at home in the play-offs and give ourselves every opportunity.
“We’ve got to trust this group of players. We can’t go and get players in, we trust the lads who have got us into this position.”
