ASSISTANT manager Dan Gower insisted Woofferton’s side would be picked solely on merit following Saturday’s derby disappointment against Tenbury Town.

Gower, in charge in the absence of boss Phil Evans, was left frustrated as his charges spurned decent openings in between a decisive brace from Mark Boucker.

The 2-0 setback was the Herefordshire League Division One title hopefuls’ third defeat of the campaign, leaving Gower with little room for sentiment.

“We need to start with the best team we can put out, that’s the way it has to be now,” said Gower.

“Phil and I wanted to shuffle it around a bit to keep everybody happy but the past couple of weeks has proved that we need our best XI out there and that will happen now whether people like it or not.

“Wellington beat us 4-0 the previous weekend. They were the only team we have met so far that looked good enough to challenge us for the league but they have a six-point deduction so would need to win pretty much every game if we start playing well.

“We need to settle down, stop moaning at referees, stop moaning about pitches and just get on with our games.”

Gower was incensed not to get at least one of three penalty decisions and felt referee Dean MacDonald had been “against” Woofferton because they had questioned his calls but stopped short of blaming the man in the middle.

On the match, Gower added: “We were 1-0 down early on and were a bit unfortunate with that. The ball could have gone anywhere but span over our keeper and into the net.

“A few heads dropped straight away but we did pick up and had three or four chances before half-time that we were unlucky with.

“We made a few changes by bringing off the wingers, shuffling things around and put Marian Jusko up top. We started the second half well and had at least one penalty shout out of three that should definitely have been given.

“But we can’t keep blaming referees or pitches, we didn’t play well enough and I couldn’t say we were unlucky. We seem to be starting games with 20 minutes to go.

“We have the players there but they can’t seem to click at the moment. The team has missed Richard Wozencroft and Chris Breakwell but the team we fielded should have been good enough to beat the likes of Tenbury Town.”

Wozencroft and Breakwell could be in line for a return when Woofferton travel to Holme Lacy reserves on Saturday (2.30).