MARC WHITE insists the best team lost after seeing his Dorking Wanderers defeated at the hands of Horsham YMCA, managed by former Dorking boss Pete Buckland.
With Liam Holden falling sick, White was forced to name a side without a recognised striker on Easter Monday and former Wanderers forward Leroy Hyett made his old side pay with two strikes to win the game.
"Leroy played for Wanderers for six years and got some crucial goals for us," manager White explained.
"On Monday, our defenders Byron Brown and Tim Brewster were too slow to react and allowed Chris Williams to set up Leroy. That was after just eight minutes which isn't ideal.
"We missed Liam Holden big time and had to start a winger up front; Sean Bradley, and he pulled a goal back after 20 minutes but then Leroy got another.
"To be fair it was a great strike, he absolutely rifled it, and it was a goal worthy of winning any game."
However, White believes his team deserved to pick up points from the game.
"It was a close game and very much the typical derby clash," White said. "It was a little bit frantic but despite their goals I think we shaded the first half of the game.
"In the second half we completely dominated proceedings but couldn't seem to score. They had a few chances on the counterattack, but other than that it was all us. I felt if we could have found the equaliser we would have gone on to win the game."
The defeat was in contrast to Wanderers' 7-0 thrashing of Worthing United on Saturday, a game that saw seven different goal-scorers.
Goalless at half-time, Jerome Beckles opened the floodgates on 65 minutes with Adam Fletcher, Luke Hackett, Jake Hill, Luke Harmsworth, Martin Merritt and Bradley then compounding United's misery.
"In the first half, they threw the kitchen sink at us but couldn't score and then once we got one, we kept going," White said.
The weekend's results leave Wanderers fifth from bottom, four points off the drop-zone, but White is not worried.
"With the games we have left I'm not worried about relegation," he said. "We have a good squad and, more importantly, it is in our hands."
Wanderers travel to East Preston on Saturday.
