SWINDON Supermarine saw their six-game unbeaten run in the league come to an abrupt end courtesy of a 2-0 defeat away at league leaders Tiverton Town on Saturday.

Two second-half goals consigned Marine to their fourth defeat of the season as fatigue caught up with the visitors, according to their manager.

It could have been worse late on for Lee Spalding’s side – Tiverton had the ball in the net once again, only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside after a brief consultation with the referee.

Spalding praised the efforts of his players throughout, but admitted they were simply beaten by the better side on the day.

“We started the game alright and we looked ok in the first half,” said Spalding.

“We competed well and had a couple of decent chances, so I certainly felt we were in the game at half-time.

“They had a good threat at set-pieces because they were a big side, and they were very direct, looking to turn it in behind us.

“We didn’t look troubled though in the first half and we looked like the more likely team to go on and win the game to be honest.

“In the second half, that proved not to be the case. We didn’t start the second half well enough and they scored two within the space of 10 minutes, and that’s what killed us.”

After playing five games in 15 days, Marine were due to be back in league action once again on Tuesday night against Hayes & Yeading, only for the visitors to draw their FA Cup qualifying game, which now takes precedent.

Spalding feels the midweek break will be a blessing for his side as they are allowed the opportunity to analyse where things went wrong in their weekend defeat.

He said: “Once the second goal went in, to be honest, we looked tired.

“We struggled to get a reaction really, but we’ve just got to take the positives from this run of games.

“The midweek game being postponed gives us time to recharge and the chance to look at things in training like where we can improve and what we can do better.

“You always learn things, and you often learn more from your defeats than you do from your wins.”