Ford takes the positives after seeing Puritans miss out again

A stunning stoppage-time winner from substitute James Potton saw high-flying Royston Town beat the Puritans 1-0 in Saturday’s Evo-Stik League South clash. That means United have now gone five premier division central games without a win.

But Saturday’s defeat was tough to take. Debutant keeper Manny Agboola saved Rohdell Gordon’s first half penalty but Giorgio Rasulo missed for the first time in six spot-kicks in the dying minutes of normal time and Potton struck home a sweet 25 yard volley to win it.

Ford said: “That was such hard one to take, we matched a top side for 90 minutes, could have won it from the penalty spot but then lost it to a stunning strike in stoppage-time.

“It wasn’t disappointing because the performance was very good but when you’re going through a tough spell it just doesn’t go for you. It was a game of mixed emotions, the last two games have been good and we could have taken six points from them.

“There were a lot more positives than negatives and the biggest thing for me was that we posed a threat again. Up front, John Mills had several efforts and Giorgio Rasulo linked up well, at the back Charlie Wise was outstanding.

“Giorgio has been so consistent from the penalty spot, but if you take them regularly you’re always going to miss one sometime, so no blame attached there.

“Manny Agboola had an excellent debut, he’s very positive and likes to make decisions, but for a stunning volley he would have kept a clean sheet. But one of the reasons for him coming here is to develop him and he doesn’t need to play the game at 100mph.”