MANAGER Ian Saunders felt Winchester City missed their midfield orchestrators in Tuesday’s dismal 4-0 defeat at ten-man Didcot Town.

Without the suspended Jamie Barron and skipper Jamie Brown, who had limped off early with a tight calf against Mangotsfield last Saturday, City struggled on a disappointing night in Oxfordshire in the Southern One South & West.

“It sounds a bit wrong to say we had no leaders, but sometimes sides don’t have standout characters. There aren’t that many around in modern-day football,” said the boss.

“But Jamie Brown is a model leader with a lot of experience as captain at a higher level and Jamie Barron is similar, he’s been skipper at most of the clubs he’s played at and gives a real captain’s performance.

“There's an air of 'new-team-itis' about us at the moment. The rest of the players are still coming to terms with the changes and they're more conscious about getting on with their own job than helping the rest of the lads.

“Once we get everyone back, our performances will improve.

“My notebook is already full of things I want to try and address.”

Looking back at Tuesday’s game, which saw Sam Wilson have a penalty well saved after Didcot had been reduced to ten men just 13 minutes in, Saunders said: “We were ever so disappointed.

“We went 1-0 down inside 20 seconds from our own kick-off.

“Their player-manager (Andy Ballard) then got sent off for two crazy yellow cards and I thought that might be a positive for us, but we were lacking defensively. We do have some real good defenders but we were a bit naive and weren't up with the pace of the game.

“We started the second half relatively brightly (at 2-0 down) but, even with ten men, Didcot’s front two caused us problems.”

Brown and Barron will be missing again on Saturday, along with the injured Adam Tomasso (ankle), when Winchester kick off their FA Cup campaign at Sydenhams One outfit US Portsmouth in the preliminary round.

The Burnaby Road crew are well known to Saunders from his time with Petersfield and he warned: “They’ve got some real good players who are probably playing below the level they should be.

“But hopefully we can go there, restore a bit of faith and right the wrongs of the last two games.

“If someone could throw a bit of luck in too, that would be much appreciated!

"It's still early doors, but we are all desperate for a good run of form and results."