I’ll have to have a look at the video and see what happened and see where it all went wrong, says Crowborough Athletic boss Sean Muggeridge

CROWBOROUGH ATHLETIC boss Sean Muggeridge says he is going to delve into the transfer market to strengthen his squad.

Flying the flag for both Sussex and the Southern Counties East Football League, the Crows suffered a 6-3 home defeat to Midlands Premier side Coleshill Town in the Last Sixteen of The Buildbase FA Vase yesterday.

A crowd of 605 saw a game of four penalties, two red-cards and goals from Jack Turner, Zac Attwood and Tom Vickers (penalty), but Coleshill Town claimed the deserved victory to reach the Quarter-Finals for the first time in their history.

Crowborough Athletic lost top spot in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table yesterday following Ashford United’s 4-1 home win over struggling Beckenham Town.

Bearsted visit next Saturday and Muggeridge is keen to go on another run of unbeaten games.

Crowborough went 32 games unbeaten in all competitions but have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since the end of August and beginning of September, before starting their club record unbeaten run.

“I’ve got to pick them up now and Bearsted is just as important as yesterday’s game and I’ve emphasised that,” said Muggeridge.

“This is a little bit of a dream, The FA Vase, but it does keep you going if you’re still in it.  Now we’re not in it I’m not going to paper over the cracks. We need to push on now and make sure we go on another run.

“The players are going to take a lot of getting over it. The Wembley thing. Even Football League players don’t get to Wembley, it’s the only way of really you can get to Wembley because it’s a tournament lower down and even I started to think about it so it’s quite disappointing.

“I just think you need that little bit of luck and you make your own luck and we didn’t have any of that.

“We didn’t play well enough to win the game. Did they deserve it? They probably did in the end.

“It’s hard for me to take. I can’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t for the lack of effort because I think we worked hard.

“I’ll have to have a look at the video and see what happened and see where it all went wrong.

“I think 6-3 flattered them and I think we deserved to take it into extra-time.”

Kevin Stevens brings his Bearsted side to Crowborough next Saturday sitting in thirteenth-place in the table and confident that Coleshill Town have cracked Crowborough’s confidence.

“I expect a tough game again,” warned Muggeridge.

“The problem is before, I always said, the teams are going to be playing nine out of ten.  Players are going to come down and do that (to try to beat us).  Now we’ve got the other side. People will think we’re beatable, which is one we’re going to have to deal with.

“We’ve not lost away yet. The home record is not bad but it’s not as good as our away record,” said Muggeridge, who has seen his side lose only five games in 41 outings in all competitions this season.

“I have to pick myself up as well. If the players think I’m down – I didn’t show it in there – you might as well give up!

“Everyone’s going to have question marks.  Everyone’s going to say we need other players but to be fair we need to get it out of our system. It’s a pity we haven’t got a Tuesday game.

“We’ve got Brighton at home here in the Sussex Senior Cup Quarter-Final, we’re still in the League Cup and still going for the league so we’ve got things to look forward to.

“It’s disappointing the way we’ve gone out, especially with the way we’ve been playing, but that’s football.”

Muggeridge admitted yesterday that he is looking to strengthen his squad going into the last three months of the season.

“We’re happy with the squad – when they’re all fit – but I’ll probably bring another couple in to make sure we can keep up the top there,” he said.

“We are struggling with injuries and suspensions.  Dan Perry has just gone back to Lewes, if we can do another deal with them that might be one player. We’ve missed him since he went back. He scored 12 in 11.”

Following the visit of Bearsted on Saturday, Crowborough Athletic have two cup Quarter-Final ties to look forward to.  Title challengers Sevenoaks Town visit on Tuesday 7 February 2017 in the Macron Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup, before Championship outfit Brighton & Hove Albion visit in the Parafix Sussex County Challenge Cup on Wednesday 15 February.

Visit Crowborough Athletic’s website:
www.pitchero.com/clubs/crowboroughathletic

Crowborough Athletic  v  Bearsted
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 4^th February 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Crowborough Community Stadium, Fermor Road, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 3BU