Loxwood 'doing everything they can' to snare elusive first league win

Loxwood's Mark Goldson looks to turn his man. All pictures by Steve Robards

Kane Louis’s second-half strike proved enough as the Magpies were narrowly edged out by Lancing on Saturday.

Walsh’s side remain winless after 11 league games and the Loxwood manager admitted he may start sacrificing good performances if it means getting a positive result.

He said: “We’re working extremely hard and doing everything we can in training.

“It’s a good atmosphere and everyone is still backing each other.

“I want us to play good football but I’ll take a scrappy win all day long if that’s what it will take.

“At the moment, we’re at the bottom and a lot of things are going against us but we’re not in the business to make excuses.

“We’ve played well in every single game so far and it’s got to turn round sooner or later.”

Loxwood assistant manager Nathan Bowen (left) and manager Alex Walsh

Magpies keeper Tyler D’Cruz was rarely troubled in the first half but responded well when a Lancing free-kick was flicked goalwards.

Sam Karl spurned a great chance, mis-kicking from a couple of yards out, before powerful drives from Lancing’s Brad Santos and George Fenton both dropped narrowly wide.

Lancing enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the second-half but Loxwood continued to sit deep and defend in numbers.

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Loxwood skipper Josh Courtney puts in a block

But Lancing found the breakthrough on 66 minutes when Louis tucked in Lewis Finney’s corner at the near post.

Loxwood couldn’t muster an equaliser as the second-placed Lancers closed out the game.

On the result, Walsh added: “We nullified them well and had a couple of chances.

“The result is disappointing but the performance was really pleasing.

“The players gave everything and, as a manager, you want to see your players give 100 per cent effort and they certainly gave me that on Saturday.

“If you’re talking about possession-based stats then obviously they dominated us in those areas. Not many teams in our league play like that, and a lot of managers would struggle to deal with how to counter that and that’s why they’re doing really well this season.

“There are lots of positive signs, performances are getting better and we are just round the corner from a good result.”

Loxwood welcome Little Common to Plaistow Road on Saturday (October 26).

Loxwood: D’Cruz, Dawson, Jenkins, Beda, Boiling (Campbell-Francis 80), Courtney, Colbran (Dunningham 68), Hawkes (Garner 68), Karl, Goldson, Brodie. Unused: Delgood, Elmellas.