IF AFC Totton had not already saved themselves from relegation, manager Louis Langdown would have had a far dimmer view of yesterday’s 2-1 basement defeat at Barnstaple Town in the Southern One South & West.

Watching Nathaniel Sherborne hit the post early on and then fail to convert the close-range rebound was bad enough without gifting Barnstaple’s Ryan Turner a free header as the hosts seized a fifth-minute lead.

A failed penalty appeal for blatant handball towards the end of the first-half hardly enhanced the mood on the Totton bench and neither did the sight of Barnstaple skipper James Mayne doubling the hosts' advantage from a 55th-minute corner.

The Stags eventually pulled one back on 67 minutes when energetic midfielder Charlie Gunson slid in at the back post to bury Sherborne’s square ball from the left.

But, for all their endeavour, Totton couldn’t break down the stubborn resistance of the Barum back-line and, to cap a bad day, they had defender Harry Medway sent off for raising his hands in the closing minutes.

The ten men were able to mount one last chance deep into stoppage time when sub Adam Wilde crossed for Connor York arriving at the back post, but the young AFC Bournemouth full-back steered his effort wide.

Langdown said: “It’s the tale of our season. A chance rebounds to Sherbs one-and-a-half yards out and he can’t convert it and then they go up the other end and score.

“We’re a goalscorer short, which is something we need to rectify.

“But we stayed up with five games to go, so these remaining matches are a bonus. They’re a chance for the players that kept us up to make an impression and for me to experiment and blood some youngsters.

“We’re holding back a bit on the touchline, allowing people to play and either make mistakes or impress us so we can firm up what we want for next year.

“The officials have missed a blatant handball at the end of the first half, which they admitted they got wrong, and Harry’s been cynically fouled before he was sent off. Harry deserved to go, you can’t raise your arms, but there was no consistency which does make you giggle a bit.

“But then we had errors in our play and I suppose they (the officials) are going to have errors in theirs. These things happen and, luckily, there was nothing on the game.”

Totton, still 20th, face a re-run of their home fixture against Bideford on Tuesday (7.45pm). The original game was abandoned at half-time last weekend due to torrential rain.