MALDON and Tiptree assisant manager Barry Lakin was pleased with his side’s commitment despite defeat.

Maldon fell to a 2-0 loss at Brentwood Town in their Ryman League division one north match on Tuesday night.

The visitors had a mountain to climb in their match at the Brentwood Centre Arena.

They went behind on nine minutes when Paul Shave pounced to give the visitors the lead.

Worse was to come on 24 minutes when Tony Martin doubled Brentwood’s advantage.

Despite the best efforts of both sides there was no addition to the scoreline.

Lakin said: “The pitch was a bit of a leveller but they scored from two set pieces and we were then on the back foot.

“I couldn’t fault our endeavour and commitment.

“We tried hard, huffed and puffed, but couldn’t get a goal.

“To be fair to Brentwood they are at the lower end of the table and are fighting for points and they did what any team would do.

“They had their lead, didn’t come out after that and then they defended well.

“It was tough once you go behind like that early on.”

This weekend third-placed Harlow Town are the visitors to Park Drive.