‘We’ve got some good players but we’ve got to be mentally stronger’ - Burgess Hill Town assistant manager John Rattle

The Hillians lost 4-0 with all goals coming in the first half and Rattle believes the Senior Cup win against Eastbourne Borough m,ight have had an impact on the performance.

He said "The boys had a good performance on Tuesday and maybe weren’t mentally in the right place to play a Bostik Premier League match against a very direct and physical Tonbridge side."

He added: "In this league you’ve got to come prepared. You can’t give away three goals in 20 minutes, like we did. We’ve got some good players but we’ve got to be mentally stronger and we weren’t that today."

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"The game was over by half time but some players have dug themselves out of a bit of a hole in the second half. Being honest, if we could have made more than three substitutions we would have.

"It’s down to Simon (Wormull, Manager) and myself to do our jobs and get a new defender, or get them defending like they did on Tuesday.

"We have to look for new players, although it doesn’t get any easier to attract them."

Rattle emphasised the importance of Tuesday night's trip to Whitehawk. He said: "The next game is a massive game. Our team have come with a good mindset when we’ve played the better sides. Now we need the same mindset against a side just above us (in the league)."