The Macron Cup

first round

St Martins 2

Cammell Laird 1907 4

Dan STEVENS felt that the manner of defeat was “extremely disappointing” in his side’s 4-2 home defeat against Cammell Laird 1907 that knocked them out of the Macron Cup.

The Saints took a 2-0 lead in the first half and went into the break 2-1 up.

A second half Caleb Jones hat-trick for the visitors meant the Saints suffered their first defeat in three games.

Stevens fielded a side that featured seven changes from the XI fielded in their three previous victories.

He said: “It’s obviously been difficult to change the side recently as we have been on a great run.

“In the second half we fell away badly but the lads who haven’t been starting needed minutes.

“That said we can’t hide behind that as a reason for losing as the lads who started were good enough to get us into a lead.

“We tried a slightly different system and also made seven changes to the starting XI to give lads an opportunity, which is paramount at this level to keep players involved – making those sorts of changes last season would have been a pipe dream so it again demonstrates progress.”

Despite the loss, Stevens was pleased with some positives from the fixture.

Tom Ash got his name on the scoresheet again this weekend as he scored the side’s only goals of the afternoon.

The Saints boss hopes this will boost Ash’s confidence ahead of upcoming important league fixtures.

He said: “It was good to see Tom get off the mark with a good brace.

“As a striker, that should give him a lot of confidence which will help him pushing forward.

“Some other positives I noticed were the performances of Jord Davies and Harvey Plimmer.

“Jord was excellent and Harvey had a good debut.

“With that being said, we did not manage the game well enough either side of the break and you could say the lack of experience out there for us showed.

“It was extremely disappointing the manner of the defeat especially being a couple of goals up in the game.”

Saints’ two-goal lead lasted just 10 minutes in the game.

Ash’s first goal came early on after a good run at the opposition defence and a drilled shot from 18 yards out finding the bottom corner.

He then doubled his tally for the game when Davies’ cross held up well for Ash who met the ball at the far post before finishing well.

Laird’s first goal came on the stroke of half-time when captain Colm Lynch placed a composed finish past Saints keeper George Austin.

A game-changing performance from Laird’s Jones turned the game on its head.

Jones’ first came after the hour mark, and his second gave his side the lead around the 80th minute.

He completed his hat-trick with a late goal deep into added time to seal the win.

St Martins remain third in the North West Counties Football League Division One South having not been in action in the league in the past week.

They return to league action in another home fixture on Saturday when they host Cheadle Heath Nomads.