The Brewers are still holding on to their lead at the top of the NCEL Premier, but favourites Brighouse are now just two points behind – with three games in hand.

Manager Paul Marshall is however adamant that the promotion bid is still on, as long as his players win all three of their remaining games.

Paul said: “I still haven’t quite got over it. We’ve had some really nice weekends over the past few weeks, but this one was pretty miserable. I’m just glad that Liverpool won to cheer me up!

“We just didn’t seem to have any desire. They defended brilliantly, worked extremely hard and their goalkeeper was outstanding.

“We weren’t brave enough with the ball. We were very predictable and we just kept hitting long balls. Their goalkeeper was around 6ft 6ins and he just caught everything and we didn’t vary our tactics, which is what disappointed me most.

“I think everyone realises that we’ve probably just given the league to Brighouse. They were always the favourites, but all we could do was put pressure on them, and we’ve given them a week’s grace and they’ve capitalised by beating Worksop who were also putting a decent run together.

“Barton also kept the pressure on with a good away win at Thackley.”

Despite Saturday’s slip-up, the gaffer is determined that the team push on and try to finish as high up the table as possible.

“We’ve just got to carry on and continue trying to win our last three games,” said Paul. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with teams in higher leagues going bust.

“We’ve just got to try and generate as many points as we can, and see what happens.

“We could still end up getting promoted through the back door, so we’re not throwing in the towel just yet.”

This Saturday, The Brewers travel to Staveley Miners Welfare who are currently 18th in the NCEL Premier.

Staveley have won just once in their last seven games, and were beaten 6-2 by Albion Sports on Saturday.

Paul said: “We went to watch them against Bridlington a couple of weeks ago, and I thought they were a half-decent team. They’ve got a lovely pitch to play on, which will definitely help us to play our passing game.

“A few players were complaining about our pitch on Saturday, which is an issue at present, because as footballers we always want to play on a good playing surface.

“Over the next few years, we will be putting a great deal of focus on improving the quality of the pitch here at Tadcaster, as you need a good pitch to be able to attract the top players.”

Saturday’s game against Staveley Miners Welfare kicks off at 3pm.