Best display since Ayres’ arrival
Chris Ayres was disappointed not to take all three points from Saturday’s trip to Dunstable Town believing the performance was arguably the side’s best since his arrival as manager.
The Heathens were held to a 1-1 draw, with the home side netting a late equaliser after Aiden Higgs’ scored on his league return with a clever header in the 76th minute. Joe Sellers-West was the man to tarnish the Heathens’ impressive away display, heading home from a corner 10 minutes later and the visitors’ disappointment was compounded when a late winner from Higgs was ruled offside, wrongly in Ayres’ opinion.
Ayres admitted it was a bit of a blow but believes the side should draw confidence from their performance and having stretched their unbeaten run to five matches in all competitions.
“It was really disappointing to draw given that it was arguably our best performance since I came in,” he said.
“The way we played and the dominance we had should have won us the game.
“In the second half, Dunstable scored from their only shot on goal when we were one up. We then scored with two minutes to go, and I’ve watched the footage back, Aiden (Higgs) is two or three yards onside.
“It was about the 89th minute and, like I said, he is a good few yards onside so it was a bit of a blow not to get the winner. But that happens. The boys put in a really strong performance, and it backed up our cup win too. All in all, the draw keeps our unbeaten run going so that’s a positive.
“Hopefully we can continue but the worry is this COVID.”
Ayres is keeping his fingers crossed that football will be permitted to continue through the festive period as he feels his team are now starting to flourish under his and assistant boss Paul Shone’s guidance. Should the league opt for a circuitbreaker in the coming weeks, Ayres also revealed they’ve devised a fitness program to keep the players ticking over until the season resumes.
“Obviously the safety of everyone is important, that’s the priority. But we certainly would love to continue as normal,” said Ayres. “We are ready to deploy a program which will work for the boys. They won’t need to be on it 24/7 but there are some goals to aim for and things to keep themselves ticking over if it does cancel. It’s not ideal, but it will certainly keep the boys’ fitness up during this potential period.”