Huntingdon Town slipped to a first defeat in seven United Counties League Division One games last Saturday – and boss Jimmy Brattan has called for an immediate response.

The local side were guilty of squandering good chances in the opening period before being kept out by some terrific goalkeeping in the second half of a 2-1 loss at Olney Town.

They were also on the receiving end of a controversial penalty decision which allowed the home side to double their lead early in the second half. The spot-kick was awarded for what Brattan described as a ‘great tackle’ by defender Odie Wason.

Town halved their arrears when Jamie Waterworth poked in a Chris Down delivery with 20 minutes to go, but a series of fine saves to deny Chae Simons, Chris Jones, Christian Le, Corey Kingston and Waterworth denied them a leveller.

Brattan said: “We had a few lads missing at Olney, but that is certainly no excuse given the depth in our squad.

“We created several chances in the first half even though Olney were the better side, but we couldn’t put any of them away.

“The penalty decision was very harsh in my eyes. I can only think it was given as Odie came into the tackle from an angle behind the player.

“We got ourselves back into the game and it was only some very good saves in the end that stopped us getting level.”

Huntingdon now face two crucial home games in the space of four days. They entertain Potton on Wednesday night before hosting Harrowby this Saturday.

Potton are four points ahead of 10th placed Town and Harrowby sit a couple of points above them in the standings.

Brattan added: “It is vital we take points from the next couple of games to keep ourselves on track to hit our target for the season of a top seven finish.

“Potton have a new manager and will be coming to us on a high after smashing Melton 5-0 last Saturday and Harrowby will be keen to avenge our narrow victory up at their place earlier in the season.

“They are both important games against teams very close to us in the table and hopefully we can end a really encouraging first half of the season well.”