Circumstances conspired to hand Potters Bar Town a loss at Whitehawk according to manager Max Mitchell.

The Scholars went down 2-0 at the Enclosed Ground in the Isthmian League Premier Division clash but a shoestring squad with players out of position did not help their cause.

Gianluca Botti had fired the Hawks into a 1-0 lead with a 36th minute goal and they wrapped things eight minutes from time through Charlie Walker.

It was a case of what might have been for Bar but perhaps the right result.

Mitchell said: "Fitness was a big telling point. We have one or two coming back from injury and haven't really played.

"We got 45 minutes into Ryan Hervel and 90 into Brandon Adams, but that wasn't ideal. We would have much rather phased them back in.

"But circumstances around squad selection were tough, even at 11pm on Friday night.

"We've had to put square pegs in round holes. Ben Ward-Cochrane at right-back was fantastic and there were two or three good individual performances but as a group we weren't good enough in the press.

"The facts are the facts, this is the reality of the situation, and I still felt we had enough about us to come here and get a result.

"A point away from home would have been a good point but you have to have more moments than we had to do so.

"Credit to the boys, we didn't lose the game through a lack of effort, but it is one we have to put behind us and move on from."

And while he can give reasons as to why they weren't at their fluid best, Mitchell also believes they never affected the game positively enough. 

"When you come to Whitehawk you understand the slope and the conditions," he said.

"We had some success but didn't really have any continuity with it and we weren't able to maintain any possession, which allows you to gain any control in the game.

"We made a change at half-time and we were excellent second half, we created one or two chances, not much but it is tough going up the hill.

"And at 1-0, the game was on a bit of a knife edge. If we'd got one, I felt we'd have got two or three, but it didn't work out that way."