FAIRFORD boss Paul Braithwaite offered no excuses after his side were held to a shock 1-1 draw at home to rock bottom Letcombe on Saturday.

The Cinder Lane side are in the midst of a promotion battle but found going tough against a Letcombe side who have only won once all season, needing a Ritchie Carter equaliser to cancel out the visitors’ early strike.

Braithwaite wasn’t happy with his side’s display, insisting they should have had plenty of fire power to beat the basement boys, but was also quick to praise beleaguered Letcombe.

“We didn’t punish them like we should because we had our chances and we didn’t take them early, and then their lad had a shot and followed the rebound in against the run of play,” Braithwaite said.

“We didn’t settle after that and lost our way and there were also some poor decisions against us, but we did get back into it eventually which was pleasing.

“From then on I thought we had done enough to recover and get back into it and then in the second half we played really quite well but we didn’t have the cutting edge.

“Letcombe defended well and got back well so they deserve some credit but we need to be more clever and more creative in what we do.

“It’s not good enough, not good enough from me and not good enough from the players, and we have no excuses for not winning games like this because we have enough to be getting results from games like this.”

Fairford return to action on Tuesday night against local rivals New College.