MANAGER Mark McLean felt his Halstead Town players paid the price for a slow start to their Thurlow Nunn League division one south showdown against Hashtag United.

The Humbugs dominated the second half and had the leaders pinned back into their own half throughout the 45 minutes, but could not find an equalising goal to cancel out the first-half strike that ultimately proved decisive for Hashtag.

“We paid for that first half," said McLean.

“That wasn’t us at our cultured best but we spoke about it at half-time and they looked like themselves again in the second half.

“We spent the second half locked into them, but we’d dug ourselves a hole in that first half.

“If we’d started how we played the second half then we’d never have lost that game of football.

“That's my tinge of disappointment but I’m happy with how our boys kept believing.

“We were just begging the ball to go in the net to see where it would take us because I felt if we scored with ten minutes to go then we would go on to win.

“We had them turned in that second half because we were playing the ball into areas we wanted to and I know the boys will regret that first half an hour.

“Had we set our stall out like that then Hashtag would have been rattled for 90 minutes; 45 wasn’t enough.

“I’m disappointed by you have to accept it sometimes."

The early indications had been that Halstead would have a strong start to the game, but McLean felt the number of free-kicks his team gave away in a sketchy first half gave Hashtag the opportunity to punish them.

“I thought it was a very stop-start first half and we didn’t settle very well," he added.

“We had looked electric in the warm-up and I was mindful of how they would embrace the occasion because the crowd was there from early.

“We looked lively, it’s credit to Hashtag in that they are good at breaking the game down.

“They pick their moments from set pieces and we gave them too many in that first half.

“We know Tom Williams is a dead ball specialist and that was a goal worthy of winning any game of football, but, look at the second half, and we dominated it completely.

“We had some great moments, but it was hard to really be fluent because of their structure; they’re not a good side to go behind to.

“We just needed the ball to go in the net.

“I knew that, with ten minutes to go, we would go on and win if we got an equaliser but it just wouldn’t drop for us.

“It’s not through lack of effort and I was really pleased with them in that regard.

“There was nothing in the game and I felt we were the better side in the second half, but Hashtag know what they’re doing and it was just unfortunate we never got anything drop for us."