One game too many

9:49am Thursday 17th April 2008

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Stourbridge FC's magnificent run of form, which has catapulted them into play-off contention came to an end on Monday evening away at Aylesbury United but manager Gary Hackett is confident his side will bounce back.

The Glassboys had sensationally strung together seven straight successes up until Monday's clash, which now sees them sitting third in BGB Midlands Division One.

Despite suffering their first defeat since the beginning of February, the manager was delighted with his threadbare squad.

Absent through injury from Monday's 2-1 defeat were Nathan Bennett, Ross Collins, Lee Bullimore, Ryan Broadhurst and Damian Whitcombe as well as having Ryan Mahon missing after his car broke down on the way.

Hackett said: "We have been on a magnificent run of form, which is probably the best I have been involved in throughout my career but we all knew it was going to come to an end at some point or other.

"To be brutally honest the game came a little bit to soon for us.

"We had a number of players missing as well as some who were playing through the pain barrier.

"It was hard to come away with nothing but one thing I cannot fault was the attitude of the players, because they gave us everything and captain Craig Slater's prestigious efforts despite having a really sore groin was a prime example of this."

The Glassboys will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Romulus.

The manager is hopeful the five days rest will see his side return to winning ways as they aim to cement their play-off spot.

He added: "The five-day break will do us good as it will allow some of our injured players time to recover because the recent run of games has begun to take its toll.

"We have three games left and we must treat them all as cup finals if we want to get into the play-offs.

"We can't get complacent and we must ensure we close the season out."

The Glassboys will also be on their travels next Wednesday when they pay a visit to Cinderford Town.