DROITWICH Spa joint boss Wayne Oliver has called for his team to bounce back immediately after suffering cup heartache last week.
The Saltmen return to league action tomorrow (Saturday) against Hampton hoping to recover from their agonising 4-3 loss to local rivals Worcester Raiders in the Worcestershire FA Saturday Junior Cup.
Droitwich were left kicking themselves after letting a 3-0 lead slip in front of a strong home crowd at King George’s Field as their opponents pulled off an impressive comeback to book their place in the final.
But despite being in control of the tie with a three goal lead, Oliver told the Standard he had no complaints about the full time score.
“There’s no complaints from us – the better side won after the full time whistle,” he said.
“We were battered in the second half and only had a small percentage of the whole game which was when we scored the three goals so we don’t have any regrets, we didn’t deserve.
“The players were obviously downbeat but they must accept the result and we will expect a reaction from them this weekend to put things right. We’ll have to wait and see how this affects them long term.
“But we must focus on bouncing back and hopefully we will get a positive response.”
When speaking to the Standard, Oliver said he was expecting a strong squad to come up against Hampton as the club look to continue their promotion push in Midland Football League Division 2.
The Saltmen, whose last league match was the memorable 10-1 win over Sutton United almost a fortnight ago, could go top of the table with a win tomorrow and should other results go their way.
But Oliver said he is expecting a tough encounter against 12th placed Hampton despite them winning just three of their opening 14 league games.
He added: “Hampton will come to Droitwich and give us another hard and physical challenge.
“We’ve played them many times over the years and you usually get the same tough match virtualy every time so it is important we cope with that.”
Goals from James Lemon and Aston Gunter gave Spa a 2-0 win away at Hampton in the season’s first fixture between the sides in September.
