Peterborough Sports joint-boss not too downhearted after defeat at a strong Brackley Town side

Sports battled hard against a strong, in-form side but succumbed to a 60th minute header from a set-piece. It left Sports in 13th place ahead of a home game with 18th-placed Oxford City on Tuesday (7.45pm kick off). It was a second 1-0 defeat in eight days against a top-three side for Sports.

Sports handed a debut to loan signing Kieran Wallace, a midfielder from Hartlepool United and there was a welcome return to the squad for Dan Jarvis a week after he fractured a cheekbone. On-loan Barnsley youngster Bayley McCann missed the Brackley game with an injury, but should return on Tuesday. The loans of Port Vale centre-back Ben Lomax and Lincoln City defender MJ Kamson-Kamara have now expired and they have returned to their parent clubs.

"Brackley are a very strong side,” Gash admitted. “They can play good football, but they can also mix it up by playing long when they have to. They are good all over the pitch so bearing that in mind I was pleased with how we competed. We stood up to them very well and got undone by a very good header from a set piece.

"Our goalkeeper did have to make a couple of good saves in the first-half, while we stayed in the game after conceding and pushed them back towards the end without creating much.

"There are very fine margins that decide a lot of these games and the top sides manage to make that work for them most of the time, but we are getting there. I certainly wasn’t too disappointed with how we played.

"We have a chance to get back to winning ways straight away on Tuesday, although Oxford were a National League side last season and they’ve improved since we beat them earlier in the season.

"Kieran Wallace will hopefully be a good signing for us. He has a good pedigree and it was great to Dan Jarvis back. He’s had a mask prepared so he can keep playing. Bayley is 70-30 to return on Tuesday.”