Ford left scratching his head following another defeat

The Puritans lost 3-1 in the premier division clash after once again failing to keep a clean sheet. Ford’s boys had looked good for at least a point but defensive frailties surfaced once again.

Tom Winters cancelled out Sam Argent’s early opener. But Town regained the lead midway through the second half through Ashleigh Artwell and Argent grabbed his second goal in stoppage-time.

Ford said: “The Basingtoke manager told me afterwards they were lucky to scrape a win but we can’t even scrape a draw at the moment.

“It was very frustrating because our game plan was to let Basingstoke have the ball and, apart from their opener, it worked. They kept giving us the ball back.

“We were good on the ball and got it forward well into the front men at the right times.

“I didn’t think we deserved to be behind but we got a good goal before halftime to get a foothold in the game. Then for half an hour we dominated the game but conceded again and that sums up how we’ve been for the last few weeks.

“Individual and collective errors are costing us because we just can’t seem to keep the ball out of the net. I can’t remember Jack Harding having a save to make up until their second goal.”