TAUNTON Town's head of football admitted his frustration after seeing his side follow up a fine victory at promotion rivals Swindon Supermarine with a 4-2 defeat at Merthyr Town on Tuesday night.
Former Bristol Rovers and Exeter City player Eliot Richards bagged a hat-trick to end a five-match winless run for the Martyrs, taking them up to 14th place.
Ian Traylor scored Merthyr's other goal, with Ollie Chamberlain opening and closing the scoring with both goals for the Peacocks.
READ MORE: Peacocks ship four in defeat at Merthyr
The result curtailed Taunton’s own run of five games without defeat, and dented their promotion ambitions.
With Supermarine winning 2-1 at table-topping Chesham United last night, it means that the play-off rivals switch places again.
The Peacocks are back down to fifth, three points behind Supermarine (albeit with a game in hand) and still just one point ahead of sixth-placed Hayes & Yeading United.
Dray told the County Gazette afterwards: “You’ve got to back [Saturday’s] result up - we had enough lads with experience out there.
“Tactics are a bit null and void on a Tuesday night at Merthyr.
“You’ve got to dig in and roll your sleeves up, and you’ve got to defend better than we did - we conceded a couple of bad goals.
“It’s a difficult pitch to play on, but we can’t have any excuses.”
Dray added: “Chambo [Ollie Chamberlain] was good - he was one of few players to come out of the game with credit.
“If you have aspirations of winning the league or getting in the play-offs, you’ve got to go to these places and get a positive result.
“It’s frustrating that Saturday’s result has been undone by a lack of concentration and lack of quality on the Tuesday.”
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