Huntingdon Town manager Jimmy Brattan believes the club are firmly on target to hit their target for the 2017-18 - despite seeing their winning run ended last Saturday.

Brattan’s men were beaten 2-0 at Lutterworth Town in United Counties League Division One.

He had no argument about the outcome as Town’s performance fell below the standard of those which had enabled them to win their three previous matches.

But Brattan, who recently took sole charge after co-boss Ryan Hunnings was sacked, is happy enough with Town’s mid-table position after a third of the campaign.

“You’ll get no complaints at all from me about the result last Saturday,” said Brattan.

“We were in good spirits and confident, but we didn’t create many chances and didn’t take those we did carve out.

“We were deservedly beaten and I only had to look at the lads after the game to see how disappointed they were as they knew they hadn’t performed.

“My target before a ball had been kicked was for us to finish in the top seven this season.

“That is still the case and it is something I feel we won’t have any trouble in achieving if we can consistently perform to the levels we’re capable of reaching.

“Only five players from last season’s squad are still around. A lot of new faces came in and things were never going to click overnight. Anyone who thought they would doesn’t know a lot about football.

“It’s a tough challenge at this level and it is making me have to think a lot more than I’ve ever done in football before.”

Huntingdon’s best chance arrived early on as Corey Kingston saw an effort well saved. They fell behind after a quarter-of-an-hour and their fate was sealed with around 10 minutes to go.

Huntingdon are on the road again this Saturday as they travel to Melton Town. Captain James Seymour completes a three-match suspension following his dismissal in a recent victory at bottom side S & L Corby.

But the Town squad could feature Chris Jones for the first time this season. The attacking ace has been sidelined with knee and abdominal injuries picked up in pre-season.

Seymour will then return for a daunting Hunts Senior Cup quarter-final trip at St Ives Town on Tuesday. Town will take on opponents who play three levels higher in that knockout clash.

“We know we’re massive underdogs against a great club who play three levels higher,” added Brattan. “But we’ll go there to enjoy ourselves and give it a go.”