Ford will not be too hard on his Puritans

Banbury United manager Mike Ford knew his players had nothing more to give

A superb second half free-kick from Nana Owusu gave Basingstoke Town three deserved points in Tuesday’s Evo-Stik Southern clash at the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium.

That defeat came three days after another solitary goal defeat at Merthyr Town and Ford said: “The score line flattered us because I know my players can do a lot better than that.

“That was the poorest performance during my time as manager at this football club and I told the players that.

“They tried as much as they could but they simply didn’t have it in them and they looked emotionally tired.

“They’re a good group of players and we just have to be better than that on Saturday. I know what they can give me but they just couldn’t do that tonight.

“Overall, we weren’t very good and deserved to lose the game. We had no shape, no discipline and were chasing balls we couldn’t win.

“But I’m not going to be too critical of my players, I know them well and understand them. I appreciate the effort and graft they put in for us.”