PORTLAND United boss Brendon King admitted the Blues “weren’t good enough” to seal victory against Shaftesbury as they slid to a 2-1 defeat at a foggy Weyline Stadium.

The Blues’ loss was their second in successive Sydenhams Wessex Premier Division games after a 3-2 reverse against Horndean – both defeats coming after a run of nine wins in 10 games.

Ben Wood grabbed a first-half brace for the Rockies either side of an Alex Godfrey leveller for a home side that twice hit the woodwork.

Played in atrocious conditions, with the goal at the far end barely visible, the fog gradually lifted only to be replaced by torrential driving rain.

Prior to the match, referee Paul Barber consulted his fellow officials over a possible delay to the kick-off, causing uncertainty for the players and staff already at the ground.

However, King preferred to concentrate on the performance of his team when analysing the loss.

He told Echosport: “First and foremost we weren’t good enough, that’s why we’ve lost the game.

“I thought defensively we weren’t great, especially first half, open at times. It took us 10 minutes to get into it.

“I then thought for 25 minutes we weren’t bad, passed it about quite nicely against the wind, created some chances, hit the post, bar.

“We were a little bit unlucky with that, got a goal back, then before half-time we switched off and conceded a poor goal.”

He added: “Second half when we had the wind we were poor, we didn’t test the keeper enough. Our final ball was poor and we lacked a bit of intensity at times.

“I didn’t think there was much wrong with the work rate, it just wasn’t our night. The ball fell to them a couple of times where, other times, it comes to us.

“But it’s football, we’ve got to pick our chins up. We know it’s disappointing. With players missing it was a good opportunity for players to come in.

“Some of those lads haven’t played a lot of minutes and I thin it showed a little bit at times with our sharpness. Some of the lads have missed quite a bit of football, but we’ve got a strong enough squad.”

King praised his team for getting into good positions, although he felt the final rub of the green evaded his charges.

He said: “We had a lot of possession in the first half against the wind. I thought we played quite well at times.

“We got into some good positions but sometimes it isn’t your day, it’s unfortunate but we’ve got to be better than that.”

Portland travel to runaway leaders Sholing on Saturday (3pm).