Horley Town defeat 'a bit of a wake-up call' for Hastings United, says Dolan
Hastings United manager Ronnie Dolan said their first defeat of the season is a bit of a wake-up call for his players.
The Us remain top of the Isthmian South East table despite the 3-2 defeat at Horley Town and Dolan called for his side to be more ruthless and put teams to bed earlier.
“We are creating a lot of opportunities,” he said. “It's just we have to be more clinical, more ruthless in the final third and put teams to bed earlier and then that will give everyone a bit more of a lift and we go through games with a little bit more control.
"It wasn't the ideal situation, but we're not going to win every game of the season. That's just not what we're doing. "But at the same time, it's a bit of a wake-up call to some of the boys that if you don't turn up week in, week out, you will get teams that will want to sit on the edge of their box and defend it very well. And if you can't get through them, then you've got to find that little bit of extra quality to try and break them down.”
The Us boss added: “I think Horley, the way they celebrated at the end, you could see it was like a cup final to them, which is fair play to them. And Hastings is a big club compared to Horley Town.
"But like I said, we'll regroup. We'll be fine come the next game.”
And Dolan said the players have reacted fine to a rare defeat and he wants his side too stick together. “The boys have reacted fine,” he said. “Like I said, we've been training last night and everyone seems upbeat. Spirits are still high.
“I don't want sulking. I don't want people to get downbeat losing one game of football. I want us to just stick together and go and react basically and show a reaction next Saturday or Saturday coming and put things right, whether it's in the league or the cup.
“We're here to win games of football. But yeah, in an ideal world, you want to win every game. But I've made it clear to the boys that's not going to be possible.”
Hastings have a break from league action this weekend as they face Bognor Regis Town in the FA Trophy and Dolan is excited for the fixture.
The Rocks are currently top of the Isthmian South Central Division and are yet to be beaten in the league.
Dolan said: “I am excited and it's similar to when we played Hendon. It's good to play a team in a different league, test yourself against different opposition and teams you don't what you won't always come up against. Over the years, Bognor have always been notoriously good at more of a possession based team. They like to keep the ball, move the ball well, which is good for us in the sense that we're a very athletic side who hopefully, the way we play and the way we want to play, if we get around them, we can disrupt that.
"It makes up for another good game at Hastings and hopefully we get a good crowd to come and support it and hopefully the boys can get back to winning ways. Cup competitions are always good for the club for financial reasons.
Dolan said there should be no changes to the squad for Saturday but added he was hoping to get one more signing over the line before Saturday’s game.