Jody Bevan said he was proud of his players after Fairford Town almost pulled off an FA Cup shock against Hanwell Town on Saturday.
Fairford looked in control of the match at the break against Isthmian League outfit Hanwell having earned a 1-0 advantage at half-time courtesy of Harvey Scholes’ strike.
But Hanwell switched up a gear in the second half and were soon 2-1 ahead. Mason Thompson hauled Fairford level before Hanwell scored again to ultimately clinch victory.
Bevan though remained upbeat and is now looking for his side to bounce back on Monday against local rivals Shrivenham.
“I’m proud of the players first and foremost,” said Bevan. “First half was superb, we took our chance well, a last-gasp tackle stopped us from going in 2-0 and it would have been a different game.
“You’ve got to give credit to Hanwell. In the second half, they totally changed the way they played. Suddenly it stretched us at the back and they took their goals. It’s disappointing, two goals in 10 minutes and all of a sudden you have a mountain to climb. Mason (Thompson) scores and then you think next goal wins really. You’re hoping for a little bit of luck and at the end of the day we’ve chucked the kitchen sink at them at the end.
“No complaints, we’ve tried everything, we’ve pushed a very good team to the limit and seeing them celebrate in their changing room although it hurts, we should take great credit from it because that is a team from a higher league coming to this place and celebrating like they’ve won the FA Cup.
“I’ve said to the players don’t let that get them down, move on and if we can go to Shrivenham and put on a performance and get another three points then there’s every chance we could come out at the weekend in very good shape, we could be top of the league on Monday.”
Kick-off at Shrivenham on Bank Holiday Monday is 3pm.
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