GARRY Burdett says Halstead Town must not have a mentality that the Thurlow Nunn League division one south title race is over, despite their setback last weekend.

The second-placed Humbugs were beaten 1-0 when they faced leaders Hashtag United in front of a crowd of 833 at the Milbank Stadium and, although they have a game in hand, they now sit nine points behind the front runners.

However, there are still four games of the season to go for Halstead, starting at third-placed White Ensign on Saturday, and central defender Burdett said they cannot give up on the fight for top spot yet.

He said: “Everyone will be a bit upset because of what happened against Hashtag, but we know White Ensign are hot on our tails and we know that we need to take the second half against Hashtag and play like that over 90 minutes.

“If we do that in every game until the end of the season we’ll win all of them and the pressure will then be on Hashtag to maintain their form and see it out.

“We have to win all of our games now without a shadow of a doubt, but I know we can do that as we showed in the second half against Hashtag and we have to hope they slip up.

“We are relying on them dropping points now.

“They have shown consistency all season but it’s definitely not over and we can’t have the mentality that it is.

“If we do, then we will struggle in the next four games."

In the game against Hashtag last weekend, Halstead were made to pay for a first half when they weren't at their best.

The visitors grabbed the lead from a free-kick and although the Humbugs dominated the second 45 minutes, they were just unable to get the ball in the back of the net.

Burdett added: “I think we started well in the first few minutes, but that spurred them on and they played really well in that first half.

“That was where it got away from us.

“They had limited chances in open play and they scored a wonderful free-kick – you can’t take that away from them – but other than that, I don’t think they created too many real chances in either half.

“Look at the second half, they were camped in their half and they weren’t allowed to play because we put the pressure on them.

“We had five or six clear-cut chances, but I think it was one of those where we could have been playing until midnight and still not scored.

“That was just the luck on the day.

“Some of the officials’ decisions affected us and it was just unfortunate, but we lost the game in the first half.

“It was a big ask then to come out and put it right in the second half.

“We gave it everything but it wasn’t to be."