'Down to moments' - Burgess Hill Town boss gives reason for six game winless run

Goals from Emmett Dunn, Jimmy Wild and Joe Clarke condemned the Hillians to defeat, leaving then in 12th in the Isthmian South East table.

Mansell told Middy Sport: “I thought, between the two penalty areas, we were ok. We created some chances of our own, we conceded some chances, but on the balance between the two boxes, we were fine. Unfortunately, the defeat comes in a difference of quality in the two boxes. We didn’t defend well enough for the goals and we didn’t take the chances that we created.”

On a difficult run, Mansell’s side have remained rooted in mid-table with 10 games to go and he reiterated the need to get back to some positive results even in the face of injuries. “Games are coming down to moments for us, individual moments. That’s kind of where the games are being decided,” he said.

“I’m not making excuses, but we’ve had a little bit of bad luck with injuries. I think teams have come into the form at the right time as we’ve kind of faced them. But at the end of the day, we can only control what we can control and we’ve got to find something in ourselves to turn it round quickly.”

With Sheppey United on Tuesday night and then champions-elect Ramsgate to come on Saturday, things don’t get any easier for Burgess Hill looking to turn things around. Mansell spoke about the challenges that lie ahead: “There’s no easy games in this league, everyone’s fighting for something, whether it’s Sheppey or Ramsgate or anyone below us,” said Mansell.

“Everyone is going for something. So, there’s not an easy game in this league, so we’ll approach Sheppey in the same way that we’ll approach Ramsgate. And that is to be organised and try and be a threat going forward, try to be compact when we’re defending and try and get something out of the game.”

With The Hillians 13 points adrift of the relegation, but also 17 points behind Chichester in the final play-off place, they find themselves at somewhat of a crossroads in the final stretch of games. But Mansell is already looking to use the coming months as building blocks towards next season.

He said: “We don’t just wanna sit mid-table and say our season’s over. Everything we’re doing now is working towards next season, so in terms of myself, it’s learning the league, learning the opposition. In terms of the players, it’s adapting to the style of football and working towards a place in the squad for next season. So, we’ll take every game as it comes and we’ll try and get as much as we can out of the 30 points available.”