Tudors manager Brennan admits ‘the better team won the game’ after Bath defeat

The Tudors were far from their best, and never looked like taking anything from the game once right-back Dave King had been sent off early in the second half for a petulant headbutt.

And Brennan admitted that Bath were good value for the three points. “The better team won the game,” he said. “Full credit to Bath, they came here and set their stall out, they worked harder than us and they wanted it more than us.

“Maybe a turning point in the game was the start of the second half when we hit the post twice – we didn’t even get started in the first half. We had four guilt-edged clear chances and we should have scored. But all in all the better team won and I have no qualms about it, we were poor.”

Brennan was, however, left frustrated by a number of refereeing decisions which went against the Tudors – not least in the build-up to Bath’s opening goal.

“The linesman put his flag up for a foul, but the referee didn’t give it,” said the Hemel boss. “What can you say about referees, though? It’s a tough job but we’ve had no breaks at all in this league.

“Kingy deserved to be sent off. It’s an incident which I’ve clearly seen and he deserved the red card. But the incident for their goal, which was just before half-time, was crazy. The linesman puts his flag up, everyone stops, it’s a clear foul, and the referee just plays on.”

Despite his side’s lacklustre display, Brennan insists the Tudors will move on quickly and look towards a strong finish to the season.

“It’s just on to the next game now,” he said. “Mathematically we can still reach those points we need to make the playoffs but we will give some young lads a chance now and we will start looking to rebuild for next year.

“Defensively we are miles away from where we want to be and that’s an issue that we have got to address.”