MICK Woodham argued Windsor FC deserved a draw and not a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of high-flying Thatcham Town.

A goal from Liam Ferdinand gave Thatcham the lead inside 10 minutes at Stag Meadow on Saturday.

But veteran striker Barry Hayles equalised for Windsor on 28 minutes.

However, a stray back pass saw Hugo Sobte fail to clear and Shane Cooper-Clark fired into an empty net to regain the lead for the Kingfishers within eight minutes.

The second half saw the home team fight back, but they were reduced to 10-men when player-coach Ashley Smith was dismissed for a rash challenge and things became increasingly harder.

Cooper-Clark secured the points with his second goal three minutes from the final whistle, but Woodham had no complaints with his team’s performance.

Slough Observer:

Windsor (red) shut down a Thatcham attack.

The Windsor manager told the Observer: “Throughout the 90 minutes there was not much between the two teams but it’s going to be difficult when you gift them two goals.

“We managed to get ourselves back on level terms and I thought that would be it until half-time, but we went in 2-1 down.

“We came back out for the second half and had Ashley sent off fairly early which gave us a problem.

“But we changed things around a little and for the last 30 minutes we were probably the better side.

“I’m obviously disappointed but I thought we did enough to get a draw, but being down to 10-men made it a difficult game. It’s unfortunate but we have to just push on.

“Thatcham had the better of the first half but we continued to push forward with 10 men and deserved a draw. But, when you go down to 10 men it’s very difficult.”

Commenting on the incident that resulted in Smith being shown a straight red card, Woodham said: “It’s very difficult. I don’t know what the referee has seen so it’s very harsh.

“Even if it had gone the other way I would not have been jumping around.”

Slough Observer:

Windsor and Thatcham (blue) battle for possession.

The defeat leaves Windsor in 11th position in the league table but with games in hand on all the sides above them.

Windsor travel to fourth-placed Wantage Town this Saturday (3pm) before returning to Stag Meadow for the visit of Brackley Town Saints on December 23.

Woodham said: “I don’t know a great deal about Wantage. They’re a similar standing to the last two teams we’ve played but we need to get something away from home.

“It’s another opportunity for us to see where we are at in this league.

“The performances against Bracknell and Thatcham were completely different. I’ve no complaints about the performance on Saturday.

“We needed a reaction to the Bracknell game and got one, just not in terms of the result.”