Hungerford's FA Trophy heroes come crashing back to earth

HUNGERFORD came crashing back down to earth following their FA Trophy heroics as they slipped to a 5 – 2 defeat to Arlesey Town last week.
The Crusaders booked their place in the last 16 of the Trophy for the first time in their history on Saturday, but they were rudely awakened from that triumph by a ruthless Arlesey.
Despite dominating the opening ten minutes, Hungerford went into the break 3 – 0 down through a Christian Tavernier strike and a double from Joseph N’Guessan.
Mark Draycott pulled one back from the spot and substitute Harry Goodger added a second with a header but it was not enough to prevent Hungerford slipping to a third successive league defeat.
Manager Bobby Wilkinson said: “We were hungover from the Leek game, which is understandable, but I’m not going to start making excuses.
“I don’t like losing any game and I’m extremely disappointed. The lads were very tired and you could clearly tell that.
“The best team definitely won and they deserved all five of their goals, but we created plenty of chances of our own and genuinely thought we were still in the game even at 3-0 down.
“We had the best defensive record in the league going into the match and we gave away cheap goals we never normally would. All three of their goals in the first half came on the break.
“We have gone from such a massive high on Saturday to a real low on Tuesday.
“We need to train hard today, pick ourselves back up and prepare for what is a massive game against Cambridge, who are absolutely flying.”