STUDLEY always seemed destined for a difficult afternoon at high flying Ilkeston Town from the moment they had Brett Fellows sent off for an alleged late tackle.

It meant Studley had to defend for 75 minutes as second placed Ilkeston piled on the pressure in front of a bumper crowd of almost 500.

Eventually Studley cracked with little more than 10 minutes remaining when Ilkeston netted the only goal from a corner to secure a 1-0 success.

But Studley boss Vaughan Pearshouse was full of praise for his players and said: "We could have nicked a goal ourselves at the death as both Jake Heeley and Danny Ludlow went close.

"To be honest, the referee spoilt the game, because Brett's tackle was never a red card and everyone in the ground seemed to think that!

"We had to re-organise from that point but I was really impressed by the way we defended. It was getting to the point where Ilkeston were running out of ideas when they scored.

"I felt sorry for the players because they deserved better. They're putting in all the effort, but we're just not getting any luck at the moment".

Studley still have 11 games remaining and Pearshouse confirmed: "Our target is still to try and qualify for next season's FA Cup but we would probably need to finish eighth or better.

"Obviously with so many games to play in such a short period of time, it's difficult to get sides out, especially when players have work commitments.

"At Ilkeston, we only had one recognised striker in Jake Heeley, so we were asking players to appear in unaccustomed positions."

Pearshouse is hopeful the situation will improve this Saturday when Studley entertain Paget Rangers at The Beehive before travelling to Coventry Copsewood next Thursday.

Both Josh Westwood and Andy Nicol could return to help lead the line with Pearshouse admitting: "We need to get back into winning ways and soon".