​Ward proud despite Sleaford Town defeat

​The Greens arrived back in Nottinghamshire, where they’d lost to Belper United on the same ground previously, hoping to take heart from Wednesday evening's competitive 2-2 draw with Sherwood Colliery.

But they failed to find the standard to stop an Eastwood side now on a run of five straight victories.

The hosts were to find reward for a dominant display early in the second half, finding the lead after fine build-up play from Kyle Tomlin allowed Marcus Marshall to tap home the opener from close range.

That lead was doubled ten minutes later when Max Ward inadvertently diverted Tyler Blake's cross into his own net before the Greens produced a fine response when Marcus Pancho set up Ryan Rushen to find the far corner to bring the Greens back into the contest.

But despite having half an hour to play, the Greens couldn't find a leveller and were destined to leave Coronation Park empty-handed again.

Player-boss Tom Ward told the club’s media channels after the game: “I'm proud of the lads again. I think over the last two games, we've been absolutely superb and probably deserved four points, and we've come away with one.

"It's disappointing but the right signs are there, and those small margins are making all the difference. We aren't a million miles away but we can alter a few things, get some faces back through the door and hopefully we can be a threat."

The Greens were due to go to Wisbech Town on Tuesday night before hosting Belper United in the League Cup on Saturday.

Ward added: "I think the group we've got in here are really honest lads and maybe sometimes we'll fall short with a little bit of quality but they'll never fall short of effort. We always give 110% and that's the kind of player I want to play with and that is why we enjoy what we do.

"We've had good results traditionally against Wisbech of late so hopefully we can maintain that but they've had a good summer. It'll be an interesting test for us and we'll see how much they've improved and how we'll respond to dropping points that we shouldn't have dropped. It's a good opportunity for us."