MALVERN Town boss Les Jones lamented on a lack of clinicalness in front of goal as he saw his side suffer a 2-0 defeat to West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division basement side Gornal Athletic.
The Hillsiders suffered back-to-back defeats in the league on Saturday as goals in each half from Athletic ensured the Black Country-based hosts picked up just their second win of the season.
Jones told the Observer last week that Saturday’s game was a ‘must-win’ and he felt bitterly disappointed his side could not take their chances in a game they ‘dominated’.
“The final ball and the finishing from the players was simply not good enough,” he said.
“We are getting into tonnes of situations and with a better final ball we would create more open chances.
“The players were devastated with the result as they dominated the game.
“Gornal had seven to eight players behind the ball and were playing on the break and managed to take a 1-0 lead into half-time.
“We had a glorious chance to level things after the break but we missed and straight up the other end they have won a penalty and scored it.”
The Hillsiders will look to bounce back to winning ways on Saturday when they welcome mid-table Black Country Rangers to the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
And with the previous meeting between the two sides in October last year seeing Rangers on the right side of a 3-2 scoreline, Jones is hoping to avenge that defeat.
“To put it simply we have to win,” he said. “Last year we finished third and our target was to end in the same place or even higher.
“But now it’s all to play for as Rangers, Wolverhampton Casuals and Stone Old Alleynians, all of whom beat us earlier in the season, have to come to us.
“We need to perform well, dig in and work hard so we can get the result which will kick us on in the league.
“After Christmas we looked at our fixtures and thought we had a real good chance of winning them all but we have won twice and lost twice.”
Jones will be without midfielder Reece King (holiday) for the clash against Rangers but the Malvern boss is expected to welcome back forward Nathan Hayward.
Bryan Craven (toe) however, remains doubtful.
“We have had a stop-start 2017 so far as we have had two games called off already and the break has not done us any good,” Jones added.
“There’s no rhythm in our play which is really frustrating.”