Holbeach United are beaten by Whittlesey Athletic in the Thurlow Nunn League Division One North

Joint manager Danny Clifton admitted his Holbeach United side had been 'brought back down to earth' after their four-match winning run came to a disappointing end on Monday afternoon.

The Tigers went down to a 2-1 away defeat at Whittlesey Athletic and dropped out of the Thurlow Nunn League Division One North play-off places.

They had led through John Yambasu's first half opener before Whittlesey hit back with a double strike after the break despite having a player sent off.

Clifton said: "It has us brought back down to earth.

"We were poor in the first half despite having the lead. We just couldn't string anything together and then the first time that we popped three or four passes together was when we scored the goal.

"We kept giving Whittlesey the ball and they kept hustling and bustling away at us.

"I said to the players at half-time that we hadn't got out of second gear and we hadn't done any of the good things from the recent weeks.

"We were half committed in the second half and stuck between either going for it or sitting back on our goal.

"We just stayed in the middle, didn't create chances and couldn't get ourselves into the game. We played into Whittlesey's hands.

"They chased everything and battled for everything. We went within ourselves and I've got no complaints about losing the game."

Holbeach had begun with the same starting line-up that had been ruthless in the 7-1 home win over Parson Drove on Boxing Day.

However, Whittlesey ensured that Tigers' dangerman Cal Davies was tightly marked and opportunities were at a premium.

Holbeach did manage to break the deadlock when their back three of Harvey Henderson, Fin Henderson and Luke Nicholson worked the ball well to set Harvey Robertson away down the left and his cross was converted confidently by Yambasu.

However, the Tigers were unable to build on that advantage despite Whittlesey's Matt Carter collecting a second caution and reducing the hosts to 10 men in the second half.

The sending off galvanised Whittlesey and they redoubled their efforts as Holbeach failed to exploit the extra space on the pitch.

They didn't move the ball enough to tire their hosts out and a mistake in the Holbeach defence allowed Whittlesey to equalise.

They were caught in possession and former Deeping Rangers player Jones De Sousa took full advantage as his tidy cross picked out Kieran Hibbins to level the contest with a header.

Holbeach then contributed to their own downfall for Whittlesey's winning goal as they sent an aimless ball forward which went easily through to the home goalkeeper.

The ball was worked back upfield to De Sousa who sent over another fine delivery which was turned into the net by a Holbeach player for an own goal to send the Tigers to a defeat which has dropped them down to sixth place in the table.

Clifton added: "We're a new group and getting ourselves into the play-off places after the win on Boxing Day was probably our downfall.

"We can't let it affect us and I'd rather be outside it and then get in there at the last minute.

"The last 19 games have been a slog but everyone has been putting the work in and we've been improving as a group, team and individuals.

"In my opinion, we are on the road to becoming one of the top sides in this league but we've still got another 16 games to go and we have to keep going from week to week."

Holbeach are back in action at Carter's Park on Saturday when they host an improving Debenham LC side who defeated the Tigers 6-1 in the second match of the league campaign.

They then face testing tussles with play-off rivals Cornard United and Downham Town in a tough month of matches.

Clifton commented: "It was a bit of a kick in the teeth to lose on Monday but we have to go again.

"We've got some really tough games coming up and we need to put it right on Saturday, although the game won't be as easy as it might look on paper.

"They are starting to put in some performances and we have to focus on making sure that we perform every week.

"After the first week of being in the play-off places, it was all everybody spoke about and I don't want that to be our focus at the moment.

"We have been beaten by Whittlesey and, if we lose the next four or five games, then we'll end up mid-table so we'll have to see where the last 16 games take us."