Joshua Proud But Disappointed

Rugby Town suffered a narrow late defeat to runaway league leaders Carlton Town, with manager Grant Joshua left wrestling with a mix of pride, frustration and anger after seeing his side edged out in the closing stages.

Saturday's 1-2 reversal put the league leaders 10 points clear at the top of the table but condemned Valley to their 11th league defeat of the season.

"I’ve got a range of emotions after that game," said Joshua. "I’m proud of the performance, disappointed with the result and angry with how we’ve lost the game in the last five minutes."

Joshua was quick to credit the visitors, who remain clear at the top of the table.

"Firstly, I take nothing away from Carlton. They’ll win the league at a canter and good luck to them," he said. "But I know we didn’t deserve to lose that game on Saturday. They’ve had an early Christmas present in the shape of three points. We didn’t do enough second half to win it, but to lose it is a bitter one to swallow."

Despite the result, Joshua believes his side showed they can compete with the division’s strongest outfit.

"Two games against the runaway leaders and I can’t help but think we’re not far away from being really competitive," he added.

The Rugby boss pointed to fine margins in both penalty areas as the decisive factor.

“We should be 0-1 up after three minutes. How the goalkeeper has kept Rivel [Mardenborough]’s effort out I’ll never know - it’s a top, top save,” he explained. "Carlton go down the other end, same chance, same angle, and it goes in our net. Those are the moments and margins.

"That isn’t just bad luck sometimes - you have to take those chances, and in our own box we have to defend better. Both boxes are critical to winning games at any level.”

Despite falling behind early, Rugby responded well and Joshua felt his side were on top for large spells of the first half. “Apart from going 1-0 down, I thought we were the better team first half.

We caused havoc at the top end of the pitch when we spun it round and got the lads running,” he said. “I’m delighted Tyrell [Hamilton] got his first goal in his first start - it’s a poacher’s goal — and I thought overall he was very good. We just need to build his minutes.”

The turning point, in Joshua’s view, came at the interval.

“Losing Jack Concannon at half-time to sickness killed us, to be honest,” he admitted. “I thought he was having a big impact on the game. We just didn’t get going second half and Carlton were the better side after the break, no questions.”

With the game seemingly drifting towards a draw, Rugby were undone late on.

“We were very content in the game. It wasn’t really heading anywhere apart from a 1-1 draw, but we can’t be conceding a goal like that at the level we’re at,” Joshua said candidly.

“Marcus [Bald] knows that. The problem with goalkeeping errors is there’s nobody behind you when you do. That’s why I wouldn’t be a goalkeeper - you’ve got to be a special breed.”

Joshua was keen to stress his support for his goalkeeper.

“It’s an error, a bad one, and we’ve lost a game we looked comfortable in. Those are the hard truths,” he said. “But we’ll get behind the lad. It’s not been done on purpose and he’ll move on from it quickly.”

Looking ahead, Joshua acknowledged the frustration but urged unity and perspective.

“The inconsistency levels, I expected. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating at the end of games though,” he said. “We all have to pick ourselves up now because the dressing room was incredibly low. We move on, learn from our mistakes and get better.”

He ended with a message to supporters ahead of the festive fixtures.

“I wish all our incredible supporters - the best in the league - a very safe and Merry Christmas. Hopefully we can kick-start the second half of the season on Boxing Day and put a run together.”