FATIGUE took its toll on New College players on Saturday as they lost their Hellenic League Division One West meeting with Cirencester Town Development 4-0.

The team, made up of students, had previously played three 120-minute long games including last Tuesday night’s FA Vase win over Fleet Spurs.

The young side could not repeat their heroics and found themselves outplayed by their hosts.

“It was disappointing on the back of performances in our previous games,” said academy director Ian Howell.

“We have played three games now that have all gone to 120 minutes and I think that had taken its toll.

“They were a lot better than us, we looked tired and off the pace.

“We didn’t really start well and never really competed.

“They are young lads and they have played a lot of football over as short period of time, but they will learn from this.”

New College were also short of players through injury and found themselves reduced to 10 men as a result of all the substitutions being made.

Despite their slow start New College were able to restrict their hosts in the first half but fell behind shortly after the break.

Two quick-fire goals put the contest beyond the visitors and the young Cirencester side rounded off the scoring with 15 minutes left to play.

Howell added: “Conceding the goal right at the start of the second half was a blow and we never recovered from that.

“Towards the end of the second half we were stretched a bit and although we still played some good football we could not score.

“Maybe if we had got a goal to make it 3-1 it might have put them on the back foot a bit.

“This will be a big learning curve for the players and they need to know that they have to perform every week.

“It is a different game next week and we need to start picking up some points in the table and get a foothold in the league.”