Carlisle City slipped to a 2-1 home defeat to Birtley Town in the Northern League First Division.
It was especially disappointing as on Saturday a 2-1 win at Birtley had ignited City’s hopes of a top five finish.
That appears to have gone now although they are just three points behind the fifth-placed club down in ninth position. However, City have played more games than all the clubs who appear to be battling for the last two play-off positions.
Manager Jim Nichols said: “We weren’t really at it from the start but conceding a goal in the second minute didn’t help us. Then we went 2-0 down and were chasing the game.
“But overall we didn’t do enough to win the game. We were more intense in the second-half and got one back with 1 minute to go, hitting the bar late on.
“Disappointing but we will keep going, get as many points as we can in the six games we have left and finish as high as we can.
“Mathematically we are still in with a chance of finishing in the play-offs and we would certainly have taken that at the start of the season.”
James Proctor had given Birtley the lead in the second minute, finding the top corner from the edge of the area. Matthew Ward knocked in the second after 20 minutes.
Jack Dickinson gave City hope with a goal on 79 minutes and although they hit the bar City couldn’t do enough to earn a share of the points.
