Steelmen boss Setchell admits he's wary of tough finish to league campaign

The Steelmen's recent run of good form was brought to a disappointing halt at the weekend when they went down 2-0 at Bedworth United.

It was only the second defeat in 11 games for Corby, but Setchell was unhappy with the level of performance from his players, admitting it was a case of 'men against boys' as Bedworth battled their way to a win.

The Steelmen have a Saturday off this weekend, but they travel to Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division leaders and title favourites Harborough Town next up on March 16, and that match is followed by a string of fixtures against other high-flyers.

Corby, who are ninth in the table and 12 points off the play-offs, only have eight games remaining, and Setchell wants to finish the season in a positive fashion.

But he is warning his players they are going to have to up their game if they are to do just that.

"We have got some really tough games coming up, against Anstey, Harborough, Loughborough, Sporting Khalsa and Sutton Coldfield and we have to be careful," said Setchell.

"We know the situation, we have a really small squad but we have to stick together to make sure we don't slip into a bit of a rut to finish the season.

"We want to finish the season as high as we can, and I don't want to see too many more performances like that if I am being totally honest.

"The next game is against the best team in the league in Harborough, so we will want to see a reaction in that game that is for sure."

Bedworth saw off Corby with an early and late goal on Saturday, but Setchell admitted his team was way below the required standard.

"That was as poor as we have been for a while, and there is no getting away from it," Setchell told Corby Town TV.

"That was very poor, and we have to take responsibility for that.

"We had lost one in 10 going into the game, and we went into it with confidence, but we started badly and never really recovered.

"We went 1-0 down and could have been 3-0 down and weren't really creating anything either, so that was an all-round poor team performance.

"Defensively we weren't great, in midfield we lost the battle and we were non-existent up front, so when those three compartments aren't working you are going to struggle to win a match at any level.

"We were flat, we were second best, and there were probably only one or two in the dressing room that came out of the game with any sort of credit."

And he added: "I feel we have more legs than Bedworth, I feel we have equally as good footballers as them, but they absolutely manned us on Saturday.

"That was a men against boys performance, they won all the nitty-gritty, they did to us what we should be doing to teams.

"I thought we had turned a corner from November/December, but that was like a performance back in time from earlier in the season."

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