Barton Rovers boss Gary Fitzgerald admitted his side may have to re-think their ambitions this season after going down to another defeat at the weekend, this time losing 4-2 at AFC Sudbury.

Despite twice taking the lead in the first half through Josh Sozzo and Alex O'Brien, tired Barton once again had nothing to show for another good performance.

Sudbury recovered with goals from Luke Hammond and Kevin Hawes to go in level at half time, before they went on to bag all three points with two late goals coming courtesy of Craig Bussens. The result leaves Rovers languishing near the foot of the table, having taken just one win and five points from their first seven BGB Southern League Division One Midlands games.

Fitzgerald said: 'It's so demoralising because we looked the better side and played some good stuff but we're not getting the rub of the green at the moment. Whether it's home or away we need to just grind out a result from somewhere. I can't knock the lads' enthusiasm but I look at the team out on Saturday and half of them were players who had come back from injuries or hadn't had a full pre-season.

'We had players out there who were really struggling in the last 15 minutes and it's going to be a matter of how long it takes to really bed in, we could be talking about another four or five games before that happens.

'At the start of the season, we were talking about the play-offs, now we need to change our aspirations and, at the moment, I'm just targeting a higher placed finish than last season (11th).'

Neighbours Dunstable Town, meanwhile, sit just above their nearest rivals in 17th and are only a point clear after slipping to a 3-2 reverse at Soham Town Rangers. Blues had shot into a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes thanks a quickfire double from Stuart Strange, which took his tally for the season to five.

But that lead was short-lived as Soham skipper Michael Simpson fired a hat-trick on his farewell appearance to earn the win, while the home side's Martin Bromwich also had a first half penalty saved by goalkeeper Paul Taylor.

Dunstable manager Lee Cowley was honest in his assessment afterwards, saying: 'I think they deserved the points. We defended poorly, as did they, and it just came down to fact that they carved out and converted more chances than we did on the day, it's as simple as that.'

Both Blues and Rovers are due back in action on Tuesday, October 14 as the latter travelled to Bedworth United, while the former welcomed Marlow to Creasey Park.

On Saturday, Barton host Atherstone in a re-arranged match, kick-off 3pm, while Dunstable are without a fixture.