Leighton boss Bircham keen to bounce back after first league defeat

Goals from Leon Lobjoit and Lewis Toomey weren’t enough as the hosts scored three in relatively quick succession.

But despite this being the first time his side had tasted defeat, Bircham was positive in his reflection of the day’s events.

He said: “You can’t win every game. We got ourselves in front and started well enough.

"They (ST Panteleimon) just suit the conditions. You can see the way they play. They suit the 3G pitch – we didn’t today. We’ve had enough chances to 2-0 up and still at the end we’ve had plenty of chances to get at least a point out of the game.

"But look, the boys have been brilliant in the last nine games. I can’t fault them. You can’t keep praising them and then come and have a go at them.

“Too many of them weren’t at the races today. You can’t have four, five lads on a five out of ten so they need to be better than that.

"But it’s not a problem. We’re only five games in. It’s about how we respond to it. It might be a blessing in disguise. You’re very rarely going to go through a season unbeaten.

"So look, it’s a tough one to take but as long as we learn – it’s not a problem.”

After this defeat, Bircham was sure he could address the issues in his team. The manager took it back to basics in his description.

He said: “They’ve had more players play better than us today. It’s not one we need to sit and analyse and work it out. We just need to make sure that when we play teams, we outrun them. It’s not just going to come down to ability.

“Today, we just lost too many battles. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb, we should’ve come back into it.

"But look, we wipe our mouths and go again. Today we weren’t good enough. We’ll put it right in the next game.”

This weekend sees Leighton back in FA Trophy action with the visit of Stonebridge-based side Hilltop, who play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division.

Leighton beat London Tigers 6-1 in the last round to progress to the second qualifying round.