Paul Cox left disappointed after Boston United suffer second straight defeat

Paul Cox was left disappointed after seeing his Boston United side suffer a second straight defeat in the National League North.

The Pilgrims improved on their 5-3 opening day beating at the hands of Southport, but they still came away empty handed as they were beaten 2-0 at Gloucester City on Saturday.

The home side won it thanks to a 12th-minute penalty from Matt McClure, following a foul by Scott Pollock, with McClure then sealing the points with a second in the 86th minute.

United did enjoy spells of possession on a scorching hot afternoon, but found clear-cut chances hard to come by as they crashed to a second loss on the spin.

"We started off badly, and you can't come away from home and allow people to get a foothold in the game," said a frustrated Cox.

"Everything we tried to instil in the group last year, in terms of going away from home and being resilient, winning individual battles, winning first balls, dominating the second, we did none of that for the first 15 or 20 minutes.

"It took the penalty to kick-start us, and then the game ebbed and flowed, but I can only really remember them having the two shots on target.

"We huffed and puffed and were better in the second half, but we have got some players from the under-23s and that have played at League clubs.

"The base of any game is winning the first ball and second ball, and we want to try and play, but we have to win the first and second ball to then have the understanding to get the ball down and play.

"I am just disappointed.

"In the second half we improved and we had a lot of forays into the final third, but we never affected the game, we didn't have enough shots on target and make the keeper make saves in that period.

"We have tried to go for it and then get caught on the counter, and it is another sloppy goal to give away.

"But the fact is if you don't do the basics well then you are not going to give yourself any basis to win a game, home or away."

The Pilgrims are back on the road on Tuesday night when they travel to a Banbury United team that has started the campaign with two wins.

And Cox says the team is going to have to learn quickly and eradicate the issues that have blighted their opening two games.

"The games come thick and fast, and Banbury had another good result on Saturday," said the Pilgrims boss..

"We need to learn, and we have individuals who need to learn quickly what this game is about at this level, and how to win.

"The league is as even as I have seen it.

"I spent a lot of time last week watching other teams' games, and there is a lot of hit and miss with a lot of clubs, and I think it will be like that all the way through until Christmas.

"What we have to do is we have to wake up, and we have to have an understanding of what is needed, especially away from home.

"You don't want to go away and entertain, we have to do the basics really well, we have to be competitive, we have to win individual battles and we have to start and play on that front foot."