'It's not all doom and gloom' insists Burgess Hill Town boss Chapman

The opposition impressed at the Green Elephants Stadium and left the Hillians to concentrate on the league and two cups - the Sussex Senior Cup and the Alan Turvey Trophy.

Chapman said: “We can get back to working hard now it’s all over, we can punch on with the league now.

“At the moment it’s a weird one, we equalled our best ever run in the FA Cup again, one round behind the best we have done in the FA Trophy. So it’s not all doom and gloom.“We can put that aside and get on with the league.

“It’s one of those at the moment, because we haven’t played a lot of games, we’ve dropped right down the table, which happens.”

And Chapman was not disappointed with the performance on Saturday, despite the defeat.

He said: “I was not disappointed with the performance at all. We started really well. They scored with their first attack through a deflection and then the second goal was a penalty and we are down to 10 men.

“We are thinking of appealing the red card because it’s hit Will under his ribs and he’s sent him off.

“We’ve lost two games, in the FA Cup and Trophy, to two decent teams.

“Dover were excellent and I felt Hitchin were a real decent side. They are near the top of their league and you could see why.

“Once you go 2-0 down you try and stay in the game and with 20 minutes to go we had a couple of chances. Jonah Ayunga had a one on one but then they scored a worldy in the last five minutes.

“It’s cup football and that’s the way it goes. We’ve put a nice few quid in the bank to help the running of the club. A now we start getting back into league matches and try to get some points.”Chapman and his men face bottom-of-the-table Grays Athletic on Saturday.

He said: “It’s not a do or die game but we are desperate to get a win. We have lost the last two but we work in blocks of five we have taken six points from the last five. If we do that for the rest of the season, we would be mid table.

“We have got to understand where we are and what we are doing. We are training tonight and Thursday and do some work with the team and go from there.

“We can’t be too down. We were disappointed we are out of the cups. But we equalled our best run in the FA Cup and that’s ok, you know. It’s not the end of the world.

“Now we are in the serious business. Now there’s pressure because we have to get points in the league.”

Sam Fisk is expected to be out until the middle of December while Leon Redwood is suspended for Saturday.

But Chapman is looking to add to his squad. Two new players are training with the squad this week and are expected to join.

The Hillians face Whitehawk on Tuesday in the Senior Cup after the match was again rescheduled.

The Hawks’ manager Richard Hill left the club this week (see page 67 for story) but Chapman knows it will be a tough encounter.

He said: “It will be a real difficult game for us. They are decent side.

“We had a brilliant unbetaen September, we had a good October and a disastrous November. We need to get back on it now.

“We have the Senior Cup and the Alan Turvey Trophy left. We are out of the two big ones which we weren’t going to win anyway.

“Now we want to try and get through in this prestige competition.

“For any local player, this is the one they want to get far in and play at the Amex at the end of the season.”

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