MANAGER Paul Smith believes Bromsgrove Sporting have given themselves an “almighty task” to clinch the Midland Football League Division One title after losing 2-1 to Southam United on Wednesday night.
But the Rouslers boss has urged his players to put their “abysmal” performance at Banbury Road behind them and come out fighting against second placed Hinckley AFC tomorrow (Saturday).
Sporting appeared to have got their promotion bid firmly back on track when they defeated title-chasing Highgate United and would have been confident of beating a side they thrashed 7-0 earlier this season.
But Southam kept things tight and snatched victory with a last-gasp penalty from Louis Bridges, which Smith admitted rounded off a “horrendous day”.
“It did not start off well as our kit did not get to us until just past 7.30pm for a 7.45pm kick off,” he said. “It has then gone from that to finishing with an absurd penalty decision which has got a player sent off in Simon Fitter and in between that a refereeing performance which goes towards being probably the worst I have seen.
“But that said it was no worse than we played, so I have got no complaints.
“All the hard work we did to beat Highgate we have undone over at an average Southam and that is the bottom line. There is no ifs, buts or maybes and no excuses at all.
“It’s hard to understand because after the euphoria of that Highgate victory all the players were fully aware that they had put themselves right back in the mix.
“But then that same bunch apart from Ryan Mahon, who we missed massively, have blown up and put in a performance which was not far from being abysmal.”
Bromsgrove now sit ten points adrift of leaders Highgate who have played two games more, and face a Hinckley side who have not lost in 23 games. But Smith said his players will be up for the encounter at the Victoria Ground as they look to keep their promotion hopes alive.
“I told the players that as footballers, you don’t get to win many league titles, so when you have got a small chance to go and win one it is important that you grasp it with both hands,” he added.
“Over the Christmas period we were absolutely flying and put ourselves in a great position. But unfortunately in the last month we have lost to Cadbury, drawn against Pershore and Lichfield and have now lost to Southam, so we have not grasp that opportunity.
“So if they don’t go on to win it, which is becoming an almighty task now, they’ll look back at it with regret because the squad is good enough to go and challenge for title.
“We have got to knuckle down now and try and finish the season as high as we can.”
