MANAGER Mark McLean says his Halstead Town players should be fuelled by anger when they return to Thurlow Nunn League division one south action on Saturday after a chastening result in midweek for the Humbugs.

In a game that McLean branded as "mad", Halstead were beaten 4-0 by Coggeshall United as they fell to their first league defeat of the campaign.

It followed a 1-0 win at Frenford last weekend that had taken McLean's side to the top of the table and with the setback fresh in their minds, the Halstead boss said he was pleased to have a game coming quickly as they host Fire United at the Milbank Stadium on Saturday.

"The players should be strong enough to handle a defeat like we had," said McLean.

"They are a good group and we are not where we are by chance.

"I know we have been beaten heavily in a couple of cup competitions but those were games where we were picked off by good opposition and there has to be a level of anger about this result against Coggeshall. "I'm really pleased that we have a game on Saturday and we have a chance to put it right quickly.

"We can be nothing but angry with ourselves as every goal in that game was from our own undoing.

"We have got ourselves into a position where we have become a scalp that everyone else is looking to take and you could see that against Coggeshall.

"They are from a big club and have a lot of good players, but their start to the season has been tricky and we were a big scalp for them.

"What we have to do now is bounce back quickly and make sure that we have our A-game every time we go out."

McLean said he would be without Joe Morris and Chris Harris again for Saturday's game, while Jamie Baker, Charlie Pleace, Tom Cook and Cameron Storie were all still out and Jake Brown was a doubt after picking up a knee injury against Coggeshall.

However, goalkeeper Jack Cherry should come back in after missing the midweek action.

The Humbugs boss said losing his first-choice keeper had been a blow ahead of the Coggeshall clash, but he was left baffled by the result.

"It was a mad game of football," he added.

"We played some great stuff, but we just couldn't click in the final third so we only created half chances from all the possession that we had.

"We lost Jack Cherry before kick-off as he'd taken a knock in the game on Saturday and he said he just didn't feel ready when he was warming up.

"So we brought in Sam Kendle, who is a player who joined us over the summer and has been playing in the reserves, but it proved a big ask for him on a night when conditions were difficult anyway.

"We started well and were in control without creating chances.

"We never looked under threat, but the conditions didn't help and from the first chance that Coggeshall had, the ball slipped from Sam's grasp and their striker was there to force it in.

"They were obviously buoyed by that and they hit the post afterwards, but we then took control back and absolutely battered them until half-time.

"We still weren't creating the chances that I would have wanted to see, but I felt it was just a matter of time before we got back on level terms.

"We just had to keep going after half-time and be a bit more clinical in the final third.

"I was pleased that we were having all the possession again, but we then got hit on the break to fall further behind.

"The third then came with another tough one for Sam as he dropped the ball into the net from a speculative shot and the fourth was a good lobbed effort.

"But it was a really harsh scoreline.

"We looked great but were just not clinical enough in the final third and got punished for mistakes.

"I'm not saying we deserved to win, but I didn't think we deserved to lose - certainly not by four goals.

"It's a ridiculous scoreline on paper and shows that we are not the finished article."