We let the fans down, says Sutton's McKimm (From Your Local Guardian)

We let the fans down, says Sutton's McKimm

11:55am Tuesday 26th August 2008 in

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Sutton United player-coach Steve McKimm has offered no excuses for his side’s first defeat of the season before challenging the squad to make similar performances few and far between.

United were humbled 4-2 at Tooting & Mitcham on Monday after Gavin McCallum’s penalty had given his side a 1-0 win over Hendon 48 hours earlier to stretch their unbeaten start to the campaign to three matches.

The striker bagged a consolation brace at the Terrors after manager Billy Smith’s hosts had raced to a 4-0 lead, two-days after being thrashed 7-0 by league leaders Ashford Town.

Sutton lost the services of midfielder and captain Craig Davis for the season - due to work commitments - on Wednesday, but McKimm insists boss Paul Doswell’s squad has enough quality to bounce back.

“To get our first win on Saturday and then play like we did in the next match, was a bitter pill to swallow, “ he said.

“If you have eight or nine players playing well and one or two don’t perform, you are not going to win football matches. Too many players didn’t perform on Monday.

“You could say losing Craig unsettled things, but we won without him. We are making no excuses. We let ourselves down, let Paul down and we let the 300-odd Sutton fans who watched down.

“We must win at all costs this week not just to get the league, but to get our pride back as well.

“We didn’t take them lightly because after the result they had they were always going to fight back hard. You can have these results in a season, but we have to make sure they are few and far between.”

Up-coming fixtures: Aug 30 Hastings (h), Sept 2 Wealdstone (a), Sept 6 Horsham (a).