Barnton 4 Crewe FC 1

LUKE Goddard has told Crewe’s players not to be downbeat after losing to Cheshire League title hopefuls Barnton on Saturday.

The Villagers completed a Division One double in a 4-1 success, a result the visitors’ assistant manager believes doesn’t reflect what happened on the pitch.

He said: “We won’t be hitting the panic button.

“Barnton punished our mistakes and took advantage of decisions that went their way, though we should take plenty of positives from our performance.

“After a four-week break, we might have been off the pace on a heavy pitch but that wasn’t the case.

“We dominated possession, though lacked a bit of quality in the final third.

“Having the ball more than the opposition doesn’t guarantee victory, but it is part of the philosophy for our project.”

Barnton scored twice inside the opening quarter hour at the weekend, first when the league’s leading scorer Colin Quirk fired past goalkeeper Wes Newton.

Crewe’s custodian then allowed Leon Williams’ attempt to squirm into the net through his fingers, suffering even worse fortune five minutes later when he was sent off for his reaction to an incident involving the home team’s Jack Webb.

The latter was shown a red card too.

Goddard took over in goal, and his team halved their arrears when Nathan Southern raced clear to score at the start of the second half.

Crewe were unhappy that an appeal for offside went against them when Williams notched his second goal, Barnton’s third.

The hosts were reduced to nine men when captain Andrew Morgan was dismissed as a punishment for being booked twice, though they swelled their tally further when substitute Jeff King scored in the last minute.

Goddard added: “We’re still on course to finish higher in the table than we did last season, which we will do if we stick together.”

They host Eagle Sports this Saturday, kick off 2pm.