Grim Griff defeat for Racing Club

Lacking four first-team regulars, Racers suffered only their second defeat since November and manager Lee Knight said his side could have few complaints.

“There’s no excuses - they were the better team,” said Knight.

“Credit to them, they were bang up for it and worked really hard.

“I told our players that we should expect it now as we’re a scalp and teams are raising their game when they play us.”

Playing into a stiff wind in the first 45 minutes, Racing Club struggled to get out of their half.

However, they defended resolutely until being undone by two soft goals on the stroke of half-time.

They were further hampered after the break by the loss of Leon Knight to a straight red card and the combative midfielder now faces a three-game suspension.

The defeat leaves Racing Club marooned in mid-table, but Knight is still not giving up on a top-six finish with his side holding up to five games in hand on some of their rivals.

“If we can stay injury-free and keep our first-choice 13-man squad together then we’ll win more games than we lose,” he said.

Ricardo Richards (wife having a baby), Andre Tulloch (college commitments) and Nathan Pulisciano (illness) should return for tomorrow’s home clash with in-form Bloxwich United (3pm).

n Racing Club gained a 2-1 Midland Combination Premier win at Cadbury Athletic last Saturday with their goals coming from Luke Fuller and Ricardo Richards.

“We should have been three or four up in the first half,” said Knight.

“They scored late on, but it was as comfortable a 2-1 win as you can get.”