Boss proud of Horncastle Town players after narrow semi-final defeat
John Rawdon was proud of Horncastle Town’s efforts after they narrowly lost their County Cup semi-final to league champions Nettleham on Saturday.
The 1-0 loss brought the Wongers’ season to an end after an encouraging final few weeks of the campaign that also saw them avoid relegation from the Lincolnshire Premier League.
And after Saturday’s game, joint-boss Rawdon took heart from what he’d seen.
He said: “It was a bittersweet experience really but the overriding feeling is one of pride.
"Will and I are really proud of how the lads acquitted themselves and how well we played, and we really made a competitive fight of the semi-final.
"We did feel we could get something from the game and maybe won it, which is a bold statement considering they’ve beaten us heavily twice this season, but part of Saturday for me was seeing how far we’ve actually come because in the last two months our performances have been turned into results which in turn have spoken for themselves as we had a strong finish to the league campaign.
"The lads proved we can compete with anyone in this league and the game was a great advert for the league in general as it was energetic, high tempo and competitive.
"Nettleham probably had more possession and pressure on our goal in the first half-hour and the goal was just a ball into the box, a bit of a scramble and to be fair to the lad he’s taken his chance.
"We responded well and made it hard for Nettleham to get any rhythm in the game.
"I felt we slightly edged the second-half and had a bit more pressure on the goal, although they were content to sit back and hit us on the counter and we dealt with that really well.
"Ultimately we just couldn’t find the goal to keep us in the tie. We had a couple of chances late on and for the last 15 minutes were definitely on top and asking a lot of questions, but they stood up to the task, defended well and protected their lead.
"On another day the result could have been different but we’re proud of the way the lads played and how we finished the season. Man of the match Alec Enderby was superb and led by example and defended for his life, and the crowd of around 300 was a tremendous turnout to get behind the team.”