COLWYN Bay manager Craig Hogg reflected on another “frustrating” afternoon for his side as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Atherton Collieries.

The Seagulls turned in another good performance but were lacking a cutting edge in the final third which led to their downfall, and they will look to get their Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Division One West playoff hopes back on track this Saturday when Bay travel to Kendal Town (3pm).

Hogg, said: “‘It was another frustrating afternoon for us and again, we’ve played relatively well against a team in the top four, but again we’ve lost by the odd goal.

“Atherton are a good side and one of the best we’ve played so far this season, they do deserve to be up there where they are. But I felt we managed the threats they had quite well on the day.

“The unfortunate thing for us is that we didn’t really create the volume of chances needed to go on and win the game.

“We’ve made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, stuff I thought we had got rid of recently, and this led to them scoring their goals. This probably was the difference between us and them today.”

After a goalless first period, the away side managed to secure a breakthrough on 62 minutes when a misplaced pass presented a chance to David Sherlock, who produced a composed finish past Bay stopper Andy Coughlin.

Another Bay error saw them fall further behind after 69 minutes, and this time it was Ian Rowlands who was the beneficiary to double the visitors’ advantage midway through the half.

Credit to the hosts, they responded well to the quick-fire setback and found a route back into the game on 73 minutes when James Barrigan continued his excellent recent form to fire home his eighth goal of the campaign to date.

The home side almost secured a share of the spoils late on with Barrigan, skipper Tom McCready and playmaker Craig Pritchard all going close, but they were unable to find a leveller and now find themselves in 14th spot and eight points off the top six.