Cleator Moor Celtic went down 4-0 to North Western Counties Division One North leaders Pilkington.
But the scoreline does not give a fair representation of how the game went against the Cumbrians.
Manager Brian Dawson said: “Honestly we were outstanding and we were by far the better team. They had four shots and scored four goals…. We had 14 and didn’t!
“We changed the system and planned to take the game to them in preparation for the winnable games coming up. But in truth we should have won this one.
“We missed several good chances early on before conceding. It wasn’t until the 70th minute until they got their second, and in truth that knocked the wind out of our sails before they got a quick third and fourth.
“But the lads are upbeat after we’ve played the top three in three successive games and hopefully the next five or six games should see is gain valuable points to start climbing the table.
“Their keeper won the man of the match award which tells the story of how it went for us.”
Callum Laird opened the scoring for Pilkington after 27 minutes with Adam Lawrence netting the second on 70 minutes. Laird knocked in the third on 79 minutes with Nathan Moore notching two minutes later.
