Eastwood boss feels last day defeat was 'predictable' as campaign ends

Having drawn 1-1 at third-placed Anstey Nomads on Saturday, the 4-0 loss at Heanor followed a trend of Eastwood having performed well at higher-ranked clubs and less so against sides lower down the table.

And the Eastwood joint-boss said that was a cause of frustration.

He told the club’s official website: “It was predictable really. We seem to have good performances like we did against Boston and Melton before losing to Skegness, and it was the same again with a good result that we’ve followed up with a poor performance.

"I’ve no complaints, the best team won.

"The game seemed to have an end of season feel to it in terms of going through the motions and seeing out the 90 minutes and the team that worked harder won, it’s as simple as that.

"Jamie Sleigh [who scored a hat-trick] is a good centre-forward who takes his chances and he showed that again. He was more hungry than us and that’s simply what it came down to.”

Reflecting on the season overall since he and Zander Shayler took over, Rockley was keen to take positives.

He said: “It’s been stressful from my perspective but it was always going to be coming in under the circumstances we did.

"It’s been tricky. We’ve had some good week and some bad weeks and finished on a bad result but these are the things we need to move forward with.

"We need to come back stronger and that’s more important now, coming back next season and learning from the mistakes of this season and being stronger as a team and a club.

"The recruitment process has already begun and we have targets identified for next season.

"When the time is right we’ll get the proper process underway and then we’ll see where we’re at in pre-season.

"This season’s done and dusted and won’t be one that’s remembered too much so we can only look forward now.”