Published: Friday, 12th March, 2010 5:00pm

White demands more from faltering Finch

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Spot on: Garry Sargeant coolly converts a penalty for Finch to make it 2-1, but that was as close as Neil White’s men were to get as they slipped to defeat.

NEIL White accused his Finchampstead side of underestimating Newbury after they slipped to a disappointing 2-1 home defeat on Saturday.

Finch were arguably unlucky not to snatch at least a point from the clash, after being denied by the woodwork four times during the course of the game.

But another reverse leaves White's men just five places from the bottom of Hellenic One (East) after an horrendous run that has seen them record just one win in their last 12 league games.

And things don't get any easier for the villagers as they face a trip to table-toppers Thame United this weekend.

And White admits he is hoping that a clash against one of the division's leading sides will inspire his players to a better display on Saturday.

He said: "I'm probably shooting myself in the foot saying this, but in the past we have always tended to do better against the sides above us in the table.

"I think we can get a bit blasé against the teams below us in the league and I think that happened again on Saturday.

"I told the boys afterwards that no-one is going to let you win a game, you have to earn that right and be competitive and at times I don't think we did compete.

"You just have to hope the guys learn from that - although I guess if you look at the table there aren't that many teams below us now."

Despite their below-par showing fortune did not favour Finch in their Berkshire derby with second-from-bottom Newbury.

In a sign of things to come, Finch went closest to opening the scoring midway through the first half when Ben Knight saw his shot cannon back off the upright.

And soon after the hosts fell behind when Luke Ramos headed home Danny Lachacz' free-kick after 25 minutes.

They were given a mountain to climb four minutes before the break when Kalief Madden took advantage of some slack defending to lob home Newbury's second.

Finch did pull one back on the stroke of half-time when Garry Sargeant was contorversially adjudged to have been brought down by Carl Jenner.

Even though the offence seemed to have taken place outdie the area, the referee pointed to the spot, and Sargeant himself converted the penalty to register his first goal for the club.

White made a double substitution at half-time, bringing on Steve Selby and Bob Yorke-Goldney, and the latter made an immediate impact, hitting the post twice in the first five minutes of the second half.

Finch were starting to realise it would not be their day, and that was confirmed when Yorke-Goldney was denied by the frame of the goal for a third time as Newbury hung on to secure their first win of 2010.

And White admitted: "I thought we were fortunate to get the lifeline of the penalty and told the guys that at half-time.

"We were better in the second half and Bob Yorke-Goldney was incredibly unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.

"In the end you come away after hitting the post four times wondering how you lost the game, but our problems were all caused by how we started the game."