​Horncastle boss positive despite opening defeat

​The visitors were reduced to ten men in the first half but took the lead midway through the second, before Jamie Behan scored a poacher’s goal, getting to a loose ball before the keeper and lifting it into the net to level things up.

Ruston were reduced to nine men for the last few minutes but found time to net a late winner.

Rawdon said: “It was great to finally get the league campaign under way. Despite the result it was a really positive performance from the lads and I’m pleased with how we played and acquitted ourselves for a really tough test.

"Ruston are a good team in this league – they’re physical and have good goalscoring threats all over the pitch.

"I thought we stood up to the test really well. To be honest, we should have been able to capitalise on them going down to ten men after 20 minutes, but we didn’t and it’s maybe why we ultimately got what we deserved.

"But generally over the 90 minutes I felt we were good value for a point. The young lads that came in did really well – we were missing one of our main centre-halves in Alec Enderby but Jordan Dowswell came in and was excellent playing out of position.

"We had two 17-year-olds in midfield, Noah Janney and Toby Cotton, who acquitted themselves tremendously, and both wing backs were 17 too in Reece Pemberton and Fin Hipkin who again were tremendous.

"Ruston carried more of a threat on goal but we certainly didn’t roll over and we changed the shape, brought on Jamie Behan who scored a great goal and at that point I felt we were favourites to win.

"The most disappointing thing was that they then went down to nine men but scored the winner after that, but their directness and physicality always gave them a chance.

"But overall it was a good first performance and gave us loads to build on.”

Horncastle now look ahead to the visit of Grimsby Borough Reserves on Saturday, with Rawdon adding: “It’ll be a different kind of test as we expect them to be young, energetic and looking to pass the ball a bit more.

"But we’re confident that if we acquit ourselves properly and stick to the game plan, we’re more than a test for any team in this league, especially at home.”