FOOTBALL

Waltham Forest 3
Maldon Town 5
(Ryman One North) WALTHAM Forest boss Ged Searson believes his players were suffering from the blues after coming out on the wrong end of en eight-goal thriller with Maldon.

Searson's team have shown defensive steel of late and have conceded just one goal in three games.

But that went to pot on Saturday as Maldon ran in four goals in the first half.

To their credit, Forest were always in reach of claiming a point up until the final minute, when Kevin Hawes sealed the win for the visitors.

However, Searson reckons his troops were struggling for motivation in the match after playing in a new stadium in front of 1,200 people against Dartford last week.

He said: "It was a bit of strange one to be honest. It was quite an exciting game for the neutral but it was a bit of a come down from last week.

"It's not an excuse, but the players didn't seem as up for it.

"Hopefully it has brought them back down to earth, which could a good thing - it's better it happens now so that they can get it out of the way."

Forest started brightly but fell behind to a an 11th minute Ross Parmenter penalty. Jamie Ricks doubled the lead two minutes later.

Stags forward Calvin Petri - signed last week from Waltham Abbey - headed in a debut goal moments later to pull one back, but But Hawes restored the two-goal cushion soon after.

Gazemend Dauti pulled another back for Forest on 36 minutes, but again, Maldon restored the advantage going into the break with a goal from Frank Everett.

Dauti gave the Stags hope with a third on 77 minutes which sparked an onslaught on the Maldon goal, before Hawes sealed the points in the 89th minute on the counter attack.

Searson is now hoping his side can turn it around away at Tilbury on Saturday, adding: "We've scored goals which is always positive but the players have got to prove its a one off and get back to keeping things tight."

- Forest's Ryman League trip to rivals Waltham Abbey was posptponed last night because of a waterlogged pitch.