SWINDON Supermarine suffered a third single-goal defeat in Southern League Premier Division South in eight days when they went down 2-1 at Staines Town on Saturday.

Lee Spalding’s side had earlier suffered 1-0 defeats at home to Taunton Town the previous weekend and away at Beaconsfield Town on Tuesday night and were unable to halt that losing trend in Surrey.

Tanasheh Abrahams fired Staines ahead after 24 minutes but Marine quickly drew level with Conor McDonagh.

However, Spalding was left to rue his side’s failure to kick on from that equaliser as Andy Ali restored Staines’ lead just after the half-hour mark, a strike that ultimately proved decisive come the final whistle.

Marine manager Spalding said: “In the first half, we started slowly and didn’t really get to grips with how Staines were playing.

“They had three in midfield, were very good on the ball and moved it quickly. They had a good player up front who was very quick, and two wide players who were very quick too.

“They caught us a few times on the break and looked a threat going forwards and then they scored from a corner, which was disappointing as we have been working hard on making sure we don’t concede from set-pieces.

“When we scored to get it back to 1-1, I thought we were going to kick on but two minutes later, they scored again.

“We should have dealt with the danger, but we made an error defensively and then there is a volley from 20 yards that goes straight in.

“It is one of those where if he did it 20 times again, he wouldn’t score. Those things are going against us right now.”

The result means Marine are now only above the relegation zone on goal difference, but Spalding has no doubt his side are better than their current league position suggests.

“In the second half, we gave a better account of ourselves and created enough chances to get something out of the game,” said Spalding.

“That is the frustrating thing as we are right in games and we just need to be more clinical, but I can’t fault the effort of the players.

“Obviously it is a disappointing result as Staines are below us in the table, so people look at it and say it’s a game we should have won.

“There were still positives to take from it and I look at our performance and know we are not far away from turning the corner and getting good results.”