Alnwick Town ship two quick goals as they exit the FA Vase away at Nelson
Alnwick Town’s FA Vase adventure ended at the first hurdle but boss Richard Latimer says his side can learn from the defeat.
The black and whites made the long trip down to North-West Counties League side Nelson and exited the national competition with a 4-1 defeat.
Max Anderson was on target for Town, who were slow to get out of the blocks and were punished for it as early goals from Luke Hepple and Jamie Edwards put the hosts in control.
Edwards added his second and a fourth from Darren Holden late on sealed it.
“I’m disappointed on how we started the game and we were two-nil down in the first six minutes – we looked like we were still on the bus and against a very good team in Nelson we never really got a foothold in game,” admitted the manager.
“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb with such a poor start.
“Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say we got beat by the much better team on the day, but that's football.
“We have to learn from games like this and improve, which I have no doubt the players will do,” he continued.
A number of Alnwick fans made the journey down on the bus and generated a good atmosphere both on the coach and in the Daisy Arena ground.
“It was a great day out. They’re special days when you're away in the Vase, and days to look back on,” continued the boss.
The black and whites are back at St James’s Park this weekend when they face current Northern League Division Two leaders Redcar Town on the back of another mid-week trip down to Ryton & Crawcrook Albion.
“It’s another great test this week and we’re looking forward to both games,” said Latimer.
“It's never nice losing games and not putting in a performance that we have been doing of late, so we will be looking for a good reaction.
“The league is very tight – I know it's still early but we want to stay amongst the play-off positions and that means we have to pick up points against teams around us.”