WINCHESTER City go into Southern One South & West battle at home to Swindon Supermarine tomorrow looking to pick themselves up from the disappointment of Tuesday’s county cup exit.

Having wiped out a one-goal deficit at higher league Basingstoke Town, Winchester – last season’s beaten Hampshire FA Senior Cup finalists – were undone twice from free-kicks in a 3-1 semi-final defeat at the Camrose Ground.

“Obviously we’re a bit disappointed,” said City boss Ian Saunders. “It’s always deflating to lose a semi-final, but it’s mine and my staff’s job to get the lads going again for Saturday.

“We were already a couple short on Tuesday with Olly Searle and Jamie Barron cup-tied and, unfortunately, Danny Smith and Stuart Green both had to pull out, so we were a bit light on experience. But we went and gave it a good go.

“We had the worst possible start, conceding from their first real attack, but we got an early second-half equaliser and had a spell on top when we should have got the ball in the back of the net again. But we didn’t do that, conceded from one free-kick and then again from a direct free-kick five minutes later.

“It’s disappointing, but I was proud of the effort against a practically full-time, albeit very young, well-drilled Basingstoke side.”

On a positive note, young duo IK Hill and Jack Hannam both started, full-back Joe Hayward got his first 45 minutes since suffering a broken leg in November, and striker Sam Wilson went on as a late sub as he battles back from a metatarsal injury.

All four of those players were back in action 24 hours later as City’s reserves annihilated a young Wimborne Town side 9-0 in the John Stimpson Memorial Shield.

Wilson – last season’s Wessex golden boot winner with Salisbury – accounted for six of those goals, backed by two from Hill and one from Jay Englefield.

Searle, Barron, Smith and Green should hopefully be back on Saturday to face a Swindon Supermarine side who sit two places and three points above City in seventh.

“We beat them 2-0 up there,” said Saunders. “They’re quite similar to us in that they try and get the ball down and play through the lines. Their manager Dave Webb’s a master tactician so we know to expect a tough game.”