Newark & Sherwood manager Romaine Graham demands more after 4-0 defeat at Melton Town in the United Counties League Premier Division North

Manager Romaine Graham has called on Newark & Sherwood to do better after their weekend defeat.

The Highwaymen lost 4-0 at Melton Town in the United Counties League Premier Division North on Saturday.

They conceded an early goal, despite a bright start, and after having an equaliser incorrectly ruled out for offside, fell further behind before half-time.

United were chasing the game in the second half but were picked off in the last 10 minutes as Melton added two more goals to confirm the points.

After a strong start to the season, Newark & Sherwood have won one of their past four league games but remain well placed for a play-off push in 10th.

It’s time to rediscover their touch after a frustrating afternoon against Melton.

“Was it a 4-0 game? No, it wasn’t,” said Graham.

“But we’ve got to do better and we’ve got to learn.

“They were ruthless, basically, and we’ve had that a few times this season.

“I just think we were a bit careless in possession at times. We were losing the ball in bad areas and weren’t able to recover.

“We actually started brightly, to be honest, but then they scored against the run of play, and we’ve got to do better with that goal.

“We picked up where we left off, we were creating chances and had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside which would have changed the game.

“Not long before half-time we conceded a poor goal from a set-piece and it’s a massive task from then to chase the game and they’ve caught us on the break.

“I’d rather lose by four than limp to a defeat. If we’d got the next goal, we’d have gone on and won.

“We kept rolling the dice and knocking on the door but then we’ve conceded two in quick succession.

“It’s a little bit of a testing period that we’ve got to try and navigate through.

“We’re not getting the rub of the green, which happens, but it balances out over the course of the season.

“We just need to ride it and do the right things.”

Tuesday night’s game against Bourne was postponed, with the Highwaymen next in action at home to Heanor this Saturday (3pm).

“I think we’ve just got to have a little reset,” said Graham.

“We’re getting to the halfway stage of the season now.

“I like to assess how the team are doing and I do think we could be doing a little bit better. It’s about refocusing and going again.

“It was probably a blessing the Bourne game being off because it meant we could get them in training and work on a few things.

“We’ve actually only lost to three teams in the league this season, it just so happens we’ve lost twice to both Belper and Melton, and we’ve also lost to Bourne.

“So there are many ways you can look at it but we want to be doing a little bit better.”