Sporting Bengal United manager Imrul Gazi feels his side were unlucky as they crashed to a 1-0 defeat in the 90th minute against promotion hopefuls Hullbridge Sports.

East London Advertiser: Action from Sporting Bengal United's clash with Hullbridge Sports at Mile End Stadium (pic Tim Edwards)Action from Sporting Bengal United's clash with Hullbridge Sports at Mile End Stadium (pic Tim Edwards) (Image: Archant)

Sports defender Perry Dunn headed home in added time to seal the three points for Darren Manning’s side and put them just one point behind Essex Senior League leaders Stansted.

But boss Gazi is looking at the positives from the performance at the Mile End Stadium.

“I think we were desperately unlucky not to take something from the game,” Gazi said.

“That’s football, you’ve got to focus and it was just a long throw that got us in the end, and the goalkeeper had no chance as it was a good flick on by big guy Perry.

“There were lots of positives to take from the game.”

The long-serving manager was pleased with his side’s reaction from their heavy 4-1 defeat to St Margaretsbury in mid-week.

“We’ve had a few tough games of recent, injuries haven’t helped, we’ve been blighted by that and player availability.

“The result against St Margaretsbury on Wednesday was just a total disaster on and off the pitch.

“Players pulled out with injuries and obviously our goalkeeper Richie Robbins getting injured in the warm-up.

“He tried to play but he couldn’t walk and we found ourselves 2-0 down within 10 minutes and then I had to go in goal, so that sums up that evening, and going into Saturday we just wanted to get back to some level of respect.”

After that poor display Gazi decided to set out a game plan for their clash with Hullbridge and he feels it almost paid off.

“I knew what Hullbridge were about and how they play, we had a plan going into it, and it nearly paid off from our perspective.

“We sat back and hit them on the counter, we would soak up their pressure, and we nearly did it as we created a number of good opportunities.

“We had three or four very good chances although they had majority of the ball.

“If we took one of them it’s a different game I think but instead they relied on their big centre-back.

“They went route one, everything long throw and long ball, as they put him up front and he’s six foot four which is hard for any team to cope with.

“He was good in air and that made the difference ultimately in the 90th minute, they had a long throw in our half, and he got on the end of it.”

Gazi did however praise his squad for their efforts.

“The goalkeeper Atik Khan was exceptional on the day; he commanded his area and made some massive saves, as were the back four and midfield.

“The team put in a real shift.”