Carlisle City went down 1-0 at Whitley Bay last night, their Northern League clash decided by a 13th minute own goal.
But the Cumbrians had enough chances to turn it round and left the North East wondering how they hadn’t been bringing home the three points.
City and Whitley Bay are both in the mix for a play-off spot and are set to meet again later in the month on a Friday night at Gillford Park.
Manager Jim Nichols said: “I don’t know what more we could have done to win the game apart from finishing. We were the better team for large parts of the game and created chance after chance after chance.
“We started well and had opportunities before Kieran Olsen scored an own goal and they had their best spell for about 15 minutes. But we got back on top before half-time and that continued inn the second half.
“We hit the bar, missed from a yard out, had one cleared off the line and their keeper made a couple of good saves – and there were other chances as well.
“There was someone at the game from the Northern League and he was doing stats. I think we had twice the amount of shots thy had and twice the number of corners. We also had a very good shout for a penalty turned down.
“In the end its just one of those games. This time last year we started to drop away markedly, a lot of it down to not being able to create anything but that isn’t the case this time.
“That’s just five defeats in 17 league games and if we contionue to play like that, and with the same commitment and effort I am sure we can be still challenging for the top five at the end of the season.
“But the games do come thick and fast and we have to be ready to go again on Tuesday when we are at home to West Allotment Celtic.”
Last night’s trip to Whitley Bay was the first of eight games in 25 days and they continue after Tuesday with Heaton Stannington (home, January 13); Sunderland RCA (away, January 16); Whitley Bay (home, January 19); North Shields (home, January 23) and Seaham Red Star (away, January 27).
