Sandridge Rovers 4 Buntingford Town 2 TEN minutes of defensive madness cost depleted Buntingford on Saturday – although Phil Fisher s goal-scoring return will encourage boss Luke Capon. However, the young manager was far from happy with his side s fir

Sandridge Rovers 4

Buntingford Town 2

TEN minutes of defensive madness cost depleted Buntingford on Saturday - although Phil Fisher's goal-scoring return will encourage boss Luke Capon.

However, the young manager was far from happy with his side's first half performance as Town shipped two sloppy goals within 10 minutes, and another moments before half time.

He said: "Defensively we were very poor in the first half and the mistakes at the back cost us. From then on we were always chasing the game and it was a struggle."

However, Buntingford showed their character, pulling back a goal midway through the first half, thanks to last weekend's hero Russell Bull, who slotted home a cool finish following some clever play by right-midfielder Phil Stevens.

But Town were then dealt a cruel blow when the referee awarded a controversial penalty against them.

Again, the visitors showed their talent going forward, with Stevens cutting through the Sandridge midfield once more, this time threading the ball into the path of striker Fisher, who finished calmly.

But Town were caught napping again when a Sandridge forward headed home from a corner just before half time.

During the break Capon shuffled his defence, and after the re-start Buntingford looked more solid, keeping the pacy Sandridge attack at bay.

In fact, it was the Sandridge keeper who was the busier of the two, with Fisher, Bull, Gary Christie, and Ricky Lawrence all testing his reactions.

Capon said: "It was a disappointing result and I'm still scratching my head over the penalty decision - I don't think anyone knew why it was given!

"We certainly had the better chances in the second half, and their keeper made a couple of good saves.

"I think if we had scored a third goal then maybe we could have taken something from the game because for a while they were on the back foot.

"We were missing a number of players and had to call up a few of the reserves, but despite being under strength, we showed that we can compete.

"We missed Barry Lynch and Alan Kenny at the back, and we could have done with their strength and height, especially defending the corners.

"It was good to have Phil Fisher back after a long injury layoff - his goals will be very important."

However, Capon is expecting to have a near enough full strength side available this Saturday, with several players returning from illness with Buntingford on the road once more with a trip to Herts Senior County League Premier Division basement boys Knebworth.

Capon said: "We know they will be up for the game and wanting to take three points, but we need to show that we can bounce back from Saturday's defeat with a positive performance.

"If we can play like we did against Wormley and Hatfield then I think we'll do well, especially if we can continue to create chances."

Buntingford Town: Keast; Stothard, Geraghty, Cox, Sutton; Stevens, Lawrence, Christie, Fox; Fisher, Bull.