CLIFF Akurang suffered his first defeat as Heybridge Swifts manager at Redbridge.

In muddy conditions, the visitors fell to a 2-1 Ryman League division one north defeat on Tuesday night.

Swifts’ previous two matches against Brightlingsea Regent and Barkingside had been postponed because of the wet weather.

So Akurang, who took over as manager from Keith Wilson in mid-December, went in to the match on the back of two wins and a draw.

Akurang said: “The conditions weren’t great but I don’t want to use that as an excuse.

“I thought we had our chances to get something from the game but they equalised with a deflected shot that we couldn’t do much about.

“One of the things that has impressed me since I have taken over is the defensive solidness of the side. So I was disappointed that for the last five minutes we couldn’t keep them out.

“They brought on a big centre forward towards the end and before that we had been dominant in the air, we then became a bit hesitant.

“I still thought we worked really hard and that is the minium requirement I look for.

“It still looked like we could force a result, we created opportunities and on another day we could have put them away.”