“We haven’t been good enough start to finish” – Despair for Hungerford Town after Southern League relegation

Hungerford Town were relegated from the Southern League Premier Division South on Saturday after a 3-1 defeat at home to Basingstoke Town.

The Crusaders return to Step 4 for the first time since the 2012/13 season, three years after being relegated from the National League South.

Manager Danny Robinson – speaking to club media – said: “Tough afternoon, tough season. It should never have been down to the last three games trying to survive with the amount of talent that we had in the changing room from start to finish.

“We haven’t been good enough start to finish. We have not been good enough and it hurts because obviously you always pride yourself on what you can do and how best you can be. I said the other day, I love this football club and so does everybody in that changing room.”

Hungerford started the season brightly but on match day nine, a heavy 5-1 home defeat to Hanwell Town was one that the Crusaders never quite recovered from in terms of league position. Then in January, chairman Cris Bowden was forced to cut Robinson’s budget by a quarter admitting: “In previous seasons, we were extremely fortunate to have the support of former chairmen and several individuals who generously covered this shortfall through personal contributions. Unfortunately, this approach is not sustainable in the long term.”

Looking ahead, Hungerford have a Berks & Bucks County FA Senior Cup Final on Tuesday night against Slough Town to prepare for, while there will undoubtedly be talk of Robinson’s future at Bulpit Lane.

In his post-match interview, Robinson seemed keen to continue, saying: “I need to I need to give some at least a little bit back to our brilliant supporters and the brilliant people behind the scenes here

“We need to yeah go puff our chest out and obviously of course we’ve got two games left want to try and put a show on as much as I can obviously Saturday at home to Dorchester as well.

“We need a reset, a reboot. We need to work even harder behind the scenes. We need to work even more to get funds in this place because unfortunately, after meetings this week it is going to be tough. There are people out there I know that will help. There are people out there that will look to try and get this football club going again, but we need every single one of these people, our supporters, everyone over the summer because this football club needs that injection.”