SWINDON Supermarine face 10 cup finals to secure their aim of making the Southern League Division One South & West play-offs, says manager Dave Webb after suffering a 3-1 defeat away to Winchester City yesterday.

Despite having an eight-point cushion between themselves and North Leigh in sixth, just outside the play-off spots, defeat to fellow promotion chasers Winchester dealt Marine a blow.

The hosts took the lead from the penalty spot when Matt Benham appeared to slip in the area and Warren Bentley made no mistake to break the deadlock 10 minutes in.

Supermarine were back level on 29 minutes when they won possession in their own half and Connor Thompson played the ball to the left side and Josh Morse beat the full-back for pace before finishing.

However, a goal two minutes before the break took Bentley’s tally for the season to 50 and a second-half breakaway goal for Craig Feeney put the nail in the coffin for Supermarine’s hopes of taking anything away from Winchester.

“It was always going to be a difficult game but sometimes fine margins go against you,” said Webb.

“It was a very soft penalty for the first goal. It was never a penalty for me and when you see their players laughing, it probably sums up our day.

“In games against good teams, when those decisions go against you then that can be the difference and it put us on the back foot.

“To concede just before half-time was disappointing and a bad goal, really.

“We had our chances at 2-1 and if we get the second goal and go 2-2 then I think we could have gone on and won the game but, unfortunately, we hit the bar a couple of times and didn’t get that second goal and they broke and scored.

“The overall performance was okay but offensively we had our opportunities and we didn’t have that bit of luck.”

Webb now knows the importance of the final games in their campaign and will hope to bounce back from back-to-back defeats with a victory against Mangotsfield on Tuesday.

“We have got 10 games to play and 30 pints to play for and we need to get that win now and steady the ship and see how many points we can get in what are 10 cup finals for us,” added Webb.

“We need to get as many points as we can. We have got a little cushion but we need to protect that and the next game is vitally important for us now.

“It would be very disappointing if we can’t achieve what we set out to do, which was to always reach the play-offs.

“We are more than capable of doing that.”