CITY boss Steve Castle admitted Saturday s defeat was a big, big disappointment as his side fell to their first defeat at Hayes Lane since 1996. Castle opted to change his strike force following the 6-0 defeat at Woking, dropping Gary Cohen to the bench

CITY boss Steve Castle admitted Saturday's defeat was a 'big, big disappointment' as his side fell to their first defeat at Hayes Lane since 1996.

Castle opted to change his strike force following the 6-0 defeat at Woking, dropping Gary Cohen to the bench and giving Lamine Sagna his first start but the move failed to pay off as Bromley goalkeeper Gareth I Williams was a spectator for large parts of the game.

"I've tried to change it and I've got no one else to bring in," said Castle afterwards.

"If I had Mark Peters fit I think he'd throw himself up front but he's tweaked a thigh. If you can't score a goal you're never going to win games of football. It's just getting to the stage now we've got to keep a clean sheet for a 0-0 and hopefully we'll get a penalty or something because we don't look like we're going to score from a set play and we don't look like we're going to score from general play.

"I've brought three lads off but it could have been another four or five if I'm honest," added Castle.

"They (Bromley) weren't anything special and they've won the game because they've had three or four chances and converted two of them."

Castle was also critical of his midfield saying; "It's the poorest I've seen our midfield - there were far too many touches, no creativity in the middle of the park.

"Godfrey Poku's had all the plaudits and I suppose he's due a poor game and I think Solomon Shields is on the same par with him.

"The two of them have done fantastic and they've had an off day as a pair and individually - that's not the whole blame at the end of the day we haven't had any shots from anyone else."

Castle was unhappy with the performance of referee Charles Breakspear particularly his second half showing but admitted it was the reason his team had come away empty handed.

"I made a comment to the referee and asked a question at half time and he asked me to come into the dressing room and I didn't ask anything else and I thought it was a very, very poor display by the officials second half but that isn't the reason we've lost the game," commented the City boss.

The Saints welcome Basingstoke Town to Clarence Park on Tuesday night and Castle is keen for his players to forget Saturday's performance quickly.

"We've had a few ups and downs," said Castle. "In the league, we've had a cracking result at Woking which gave us the impetus to really think we could do it, this has been a kick in the teeth, obviously the FA Trophy aside that was, I'm not belittling it, but that wasn't the league form.

"We've had, at Basingstoke, a hard earned draw and this was a big, big disappointment. We've just got to let it go.

"We'll be in Monday. I'm a believer, with a midweek game that you probably give them the day off before the game, but being quite brutally honest they don't deserve it. They'll be in, they'll do something, they won't over exert themselves and we'll make sure that we're right for Tuesday.

"There's a big degree of disappointment there. We'll give them a few fresh ideas and hopefully we'll come out and give a flying performance on Tuesday.