BEWDLEY Town manager Phil Mullen watched his team shot down by two late goals in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to table-topping Bridgnorth AFC but was full of praise for his side.

The Ribbesford Meadow outfit were more than a match for the leaders until they felt the effects of a host of injuries and were caught out late on.

Town had been on level terms but lost Thomas Bishop and Liam Hodges to illness at half-time.

To make matters worse, Ed FLory received a bang on the head from Town keeper Craig Ladek and had to soldier on.

Carl Griffiths and Anwar Olugbon plundered late goals as Bridgnorth won the game in the 88th minute.

Mullen said: “We played really well and if we hadn’t had the problems who knows what the result might have been.

“We just ran out of energy late on Bridgnorth managed to capitalise.

“But we had our chances to score and it was the first time we had not done so in a game for a while.”

He added: “Tom and Liam both said they didn’t feel well enough to continue at half-time so they had to come off, so we’ve been a bit unlucky.

"We defended very well also, it was a very strong performance."

Town are now sixth from bottom after 23 games and they face Willenhall Town at home on Saturday (3pm ko).

The two sides met recently at Long Lane and battled out an entertaining 3-3 draw, with James Baldwin bagging a hat-trick.

Mullen added: “I like Willenhall, they have a nice style of football.

“Hopefully we can score three goals again but let a few less in this time.

“We had a full strength turn out against Bridgnorth which was great to see and hopefully we will have the same again this weekend.”

Bewdley had scored in their previous 13 games before being shut out by Bridgnorth and they will be hoping to find the form that saw them score eight in the previous three games.