NEW College academy director Ian Howell insisted his side were good value for a point despite slumping to a 2-1 defeat at home to Shortwood United reserves.

Sam Lofts struck to level things up for the students after the visitors had taken the lead, but they couldn’t hold on as a deflected shot beat keeper Alex Swatridge with less than 10 minutes left in the contest.

While Howell admitted his side were not at their attacking best he does believe they should have come away with something from the contest.

“It was quite an even start to the game but they soon had a couple of near misses and we had a few half chances too,” he said.

“They then went ahead but we came back with a good header and then had the better of the latter exchanges of the half. I think it was an even game to be honest and I think a draw would have been a fair reflection of it.

“We had the majority of the possession and limited their opportunities to half chances, with neither team having anything clear-cut.

“But with eight minutes to go we switched off a little and were guilty of ball watching and they scored from a bit of a deflection which went over Alex Swatridge in goal. It wasn’t an amazing strike or a well-worked move, more of a scrappy goal which earned them the points.

“We didn’t really get into our attacking rhythm at all throughout the game and if you don’t look like scoring you probably aren’t going to win games.”