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[Darren]

Heathcote positive despite relegation
By Connor Murphy
Comment
GRAHAM Heathcote hailed the efforts of his players despite suffering relegation after a 2-2 draw at Weymouth on Saturday.

The Robins boss remained philosophical even though his side once more came up short in their bid for Blue Square Premier survival, despite rivals Halifax's 2-1 defeat to Stevenage.

It was the second consecutive year Alty failed to get the required result with their future on the line in the final game of the season.


But Heathcote refused to point the finger at his players and insists there is still hope for the future.

He said: "It's about 46 games of football, not just today.

"I can't knock the players because they gave everything and we bombed them in the last half hour. I suppose you'd expect a team fighting for their lives to throw everything at the other team but I am proud of my players.

"We have to wait and see what happens now.

"It's disappointing but it's not rocket science that we find it hard to compete in this league. We have been down there three years now and it's a very difficult situation.

"We are competing against full-time teams with bigger budgets and when you look at the four teams who have gone down, it's the four true part-time teams. We have finished just one point behind a full-time outfit.

"The attitude of the players and the crowd turnout showed me there's a lot of passion for this football club. It's a club anyone could be proud of.

"But this league is a struggle season in, season out and probably will remain so as long as we remain a part-time team."

Heathcote also believes his team didn't get the rub of the green, especially in terms of the referee's decisions.

He highlighted Trevor Challis' horrendous challenge on Chris Senior early in the game as one that deserved a red card but there were a number of tackles from Weymouth's over-eager players that could have received harsher punishment.

He added: "We should've won but we also should've been playing against 10 men after 15 minutes after that awful challenge on Chris Senior. I suppose that sums up the inconsistency of the refereeing at this level.

"The official summed it up as reckless' but the lad went on to make two good clearances later in the game and that's cost us.

We gave it a go, we hit the bar and clipped the post but it just wasn't our day."

3:07pm Sunday 27th April 2008