WESTBURY United boss Neil Kirkpatrick rued his side’s current run of luck as the former Toolstation League Premier Division leaders were defeated for the fifth time in six games on Saturday, writes JONATHAN LEIGHFIELD.

Title rivals Plymouth Parkway strolled out of Meadow Lane as 4-0 victors, with both teams also finishing the contest a man light.

Parkway went in front midway through the first half before three goals in the final half-hour later rubbed salt into United’s wounds.

Claiming two of the goals should not have counted, Kirkpatrick felt hard done by once again, but did not dispute Plymouth ultimately deserving to come away with the points.

He said: “In the first half, we were excellent – really good – but Parkway scored a couple of minutes before half-time with a goal that was a clear foul.

“It was a day where we were punished for two mistakes and two of the goals should never have stood.

“The third goal – the guy might as well have picked the ball up and thrown it in, it was that clear a handball.

“When your luck is not going for you, it’s not going for you, and that’s the way it is at the minute.”

“In the last few weeks, we’ve had major decisions go against us – I’m not saying we would have won the game anyway, Plymouth were a very good side, but those decisions change games.”

Having slipped down to fifth in the table, a position it would appear they will stay now until the end of the season, the Westbury manager says that outcome would still represent a successful season, despite their late collapse in form.

Kirkpatrick could not fault his players’ efforts recently and was proud of them for pushing the in-form Devon side all the way.

He said: “It was a really good game and Parkway went away knowing they’d been in a contest. The scoreline is just one of those things, unfortunately. We can’t do much about the way it looks.”

“When we’re making any type of mistake at the minute, we’re getting punished for it and the only way to turn it around is to keep working hard.

“I said to the players afterwards, ‘hold your heads up high, we’ve played ok today.’ As long as we learn from those silly mistakes, we’ll be alright.”

Meanwhile, Bradford Town picked up a 2-0 win over Clevedon Town.

Charlie Maddison headed in the first, seconds before the half-time break, before Will Hailston made the points safe midway through the second half.