Stones ‘proud’ of Horncastle Town following cup final defeat, but Wongers boss calls on his side to be more clinical

The Wongers were beaten 3-1 by Brigg Town CIC at Skegness Town’s Vertigo Stadium on Friday evening in a game where they created the more clear-cut chances but the Zebras proved their prowess in front of goal.

“It was a very disapponting night. We thought we were probably the better side overall,” said Stones.

“It was frustrating on the bench, we planned to play deep and limit their chances.

“The goal in the first two minutes killed us a bit. But we did well to get back into the game, and we controlled the game until half time.”

Reece Moody handed Brigg an early lead only for Elliott Andrew to level.

But the opening stages of the second half saw Jake Reed restore Brigg’s lead and Scott Lowman dismissed for a strong challenge.

“We spoke about doing the same things but a crazy first five minutes, a goal and sending off, has really changed the game,” Stones continued.

“We can’t have any arguments and they deserved to win it after we shot ourselves in the foot.

“It sums up our season, when we’re chasing the game we don’t seem to be able to get that goal chasing the game.

“It could have been 4-1 or 5-1 in the end.

“We’ve got to learn to take our chances and put more balls into the box and be more more threatening when chasing games.”

At 2-1 down Horncastle were awarded a penalty when Jac Wright went down in the box, only for referee Michael Redgrift to change his decision after taking advice from his assistant.

“It’s a strange one because the referee’s five yards away and given the penalty and he’s gone to someone that’s 30 yards away,” Stones added.

“The ref said he didn’t book him for diving because there was contact, but it wasn’t a foul.

“Cup finals can come down to one thing. Unfortunately it couldn’t go our way.

“(Wright) said there was contact, it wasn’t a lot but he was clipped as he was about to touch the ball. In modern football that’s enough.”

Stones, however, gave his sidethe thumbs up for reaching the Lincs Junior Cup final.

He added: “We feel proud of the lads for getting this far.”