Tadcaster Albion lacked 'fight' and 'belief' during home defeat to top-of-the-table Campion AFC

Tadcaster Albion suffered a 4-1 home loss to high-flying Campion on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Craig Dinsdale

The table-toppers cruised to a 4-1 success over a severely depleted Brewers team, surging into a three-goal lead before Oli Norman pulled one back with a 65th-minute penalty.

And while the Albion boss stated that he can accept losing to a side of Campion’s quality, he was left to fume at the lack of “fight” and “belief” on show.

“To be fair, we didn’t fight hard enough in the first half, we lacked belief, we lost every duel, every single battle all over the pitch,” O’Connell reflected.

Tadcaster Albion manager Mick O'Connell. Picture: Gerard Binks

"So, credit to Campion, they came out fighting, they just looked hungrier and sharper than us, and for me, that’s the biggest insult, another team outworking us and being hungrier than us.

"I don’t want to make excuses because Campion were better than us in every department and deserved to win, but we had three lads suspended who start every game, two lads injured. And Cody [Collins] was sick. Credit to him, he tried, but I knew in the warm-up that he wasn’t going to get through.

"It’s difficult, we played Luke Stewart out of position, Sam Kay at left-back and he’s a central midfielder. And when you’re putting square pegs in round holes against top of the league you are always going to be in for a long afternoon.

"It was one of those afternoons where we have to take our medicine and move on.”