Ingle 'gutted' after late goal denies Hucknall

Full-back Oliver Brown scored directly from a corner to earn a deserved half-time lead for Town, who looked well-placed to end Blackstones’ 10-game unbeaten home league run.

However, the hosts piled the pressure on after the break and eventually found a way past Louis Kinnerley, with Ryan Lennon netting from the penalty spot after Sam Sims was sent off for handling the ball on the goal line.

Speaking shortly after the game, Ingle was unable to hide his disappointment with the outcome.

He said: “It’s two points lost. I’ll be honest, I’m gutted, because in the first half we showed everything we’ve been lacking over the last four games.

“In the second half, they put an extra player in midfield and then we started to sit back, so that gave them the extra space to play into, with the extra player on the overload.

“The only way to deal with that was to keep pressing them again and play a bit higher, but we just didn’t do it.

“We can’t make excuses. Were we tired? Yes, we probably were a little bit, but at the end of the day, you’ve still got to deal with it.

“We knew what we had to do; we just didn’t keep it up.”

While conceding so late in the contest was understandably tough to take, Ingle insisted that Hucknall will take some encouragement from how they performed in a difficult away fixture.

When asked to specify what impressed him about his team’s display, the Yellows boss stated: “The energy levels in the first half, the pressing, and our positioning as a team on the pitch, in terms of where we wanted to be so that each unit could connect.

“There are a lot of positives, but again, it really does feel like two points lost.

“Our away form isn’t that bad because we had that massive long string of away games while we were waiting for the ground to be done. I think we cope quite well away.

“We’re at the business end of the season so we’ve got to keep raking the points in, and okay, we’ve got a point tonight, but we can’t keep relying on what other teams do around us.

“We’ve got to do our business, and that’s all it’s about.”

Ingle was also keen to praise the Hucknall fans, with a large number of them making the long trip to Stamford to support the team.

“For me personally, the fans, right from day one, have been fantastic,” he said.

“The support we’ve had, and particularly away, when you come to places like this, has been great.

“It’s taken us an hour and 30 minutes [to get here], for some people probably longer in busy traffic, people have been to work.

“I just can’t fault them, and they do make a massive difference. I’m just sorry we couldn’t give them all three points tonight.”

Yellows face Gedling MW away on Saturday in the United Counties League Division One.