Sleaford narrowly beaten by Retford
Matt Evans was proud of his Sleaford Town players’ efforts as they fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat at title-chasing Retford FC on Saturday.
A by Ben Coleman wasn't enough for Sleaford, with a Coleman own goal and an Iren Wilson close range strike downing the Greens, whose keeper Josh Wilson also saved a first-half penalty and the home side playing the last ten minutes a man short following a red card.
And Evans told the club’s media that there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
He said: “I’m really pleased with the performance. I’m disappointed that we haven’t managed to squeeze a point out of it and make the most of the fact that Retford hadn’t played for a couple of weeks.
"They were the superior side in the first-half and we had to deal with a lot of pressure, but it was probably one of the most calm half-time talks and from the second-half kick-off I felt we looked really good and played some great football in what was a great reaction to a very poor approach last week.
"I felt we could have had a penalty near the end and Lewis Greenfield forced a great save as well, both of which could have made it 2-2.
"But full credit to Retford who are a good side who know how to manage the game and the ‘dark arts’ side of things and also played some good football in patches.
"We had to change our shape as both of our regular centre-halves were missing but those who came in were immense and showed great desire and hunger.
"With set pieces, we’ve been a threat before but then stopped being so, while we’ve also been under threat and managed to stop it but it’s now come again, so we need to get back to the good habits when defending them.”
Sleaford are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Shirebrook Town who are fourth from bottom in the UCL Division One, six points behind Sleaford who are 17th.