WHITE Tigers’ boss, Lee Hodges, was proud of his teams’ efforts as we pushed National League high-flyers, Sutton United, all the way in the Buildbase FA Trophy first round.
“To put in that kind of performance against a high-flying side from the League above was superb,” he said. “We’re looking back to our best; in football you don’t always get what you deserve and a slight mistake has cost us here.
“We were great all over the pitch and as the game went on, we looked the most likely side, so it makes it even more disappointing that we lost it so late on.
“I thought that we were well-organised and worked extremely hard. The players should feel proud of where we’re at right now.
“We want to be able to compete with teams like this. Lady Luck shone on them on this occasion but the lads gave me everything out there.
“It’s a case of picking ourselves up and being ready to go into the busy festive period now. We’ve proven hard to beat in the first half of the season and we want to kick-on from here now.
“There are lots of points to play for and our aim is to make sure that we’re still in and around it after the festive period.
“The next game is always the most important and our focus now turns to the home game against Gloucester City next weekend.
“It’s about what we do and we’ll be ready for the challenge.”
Hodges was full of praise for the travelling contingent within the 576 crowd at a rain-swept Sutton United.
“The fans are just brilliant,” he added. “They turn up week in, week out and we appreciate the great lengths that they go to.
“We need them right behind us for the big games that lie ahead and I’m sure we’ll continue to get fantastic backing.”