JOINT-MANAGER Tommy Booth was left rueing missed opportunities as Burton Albion fell to a 3-0 defeat to Boldmere St Michaels on Sunday.
Goals from Alexandria Liddiard, Steph Weston and Chloe Bickley ultimately sealed a comfortable win for the visitors despite a valiant effort from the Brewers.
It all could have been different had Albion made the most of their spell of dominance at the end of the first half, and Booth, ahead of Albion's next league game at home to Long Eaton United tonight (7.45pm kick-off), was left frustrated that they couldn’t take advantage.
“When we’re creating chances, we need to be a bit more clinical," said Booth.
"We need to take them. You’re not going to get 10 chances against a team like Boldmere, and we’ve done well to create three or four chances.”
Having not taken these opportunities, the Brewers suffered a sucker-punch at the end of the half as Liddiard put the Mikes ahead with a finish into the roof of the net.
This seemed to restore the confidence of the visitors, with Booth admitting his team never really recovered from it.
"I feel like we were evens at the first half, and they went in with the lead, and that sort of swayed the momentum," said the Brewers boss.
"We weren’t good enough in the second half though – that second half was poor.”
Whilst the pitch certainly played a part in Albion not quite finding their rhythm, Booth refused to make excuses - but was able to look at the positives.
"We can’t control the referee and we can’t control the pitch," he added.
"We can control our passing, and our reaction to the situations, and that wasn’t at the standards we set.
“There are positives, we’ve created chances, we’ve come off disappointed that we didn’t take anything from a team towards the top of the table.”
The Brewers will have a chance to get back to winning ways when they welcome Long Eaton United tonight - the match at Hillsfield, Rocester FC (ST14 5JX) kicks off at 7.45pm.