Lowestoft Town manager Jamie Godbold has challenged his players to “show more consistency” ahead of two games in the next four days.

A 90th minute winner sealed a 2-3 win for Stratford in the Pitching In Southern Premier Division Central League at Crown Meadow last Saturday.

The Trawlerboys had twice recovered to equalise through Jacek Zielonka’s penalty and a first competitive goal for Kieran Higgs since his horrendous injury 18 months ago.

But a “really disappointing” last gasp winner meant Lowestoft dropped to joint 12th in the table after a first home league defeat.

They aim to bounce back with a Buildbase FA Trophy third round qualifying clash at Crown Meadow against Lewes tomorrow (3pm kick off) before hosting 16th placed Biggleswade Town in the league on Tuesday, November 3, 7.45pm kick off.

Calling on his players to respond, Godbold said: “The message is about bouncing back, showing more consistency.

“We have been at a really good level now for a number of weeks.

“Now, its about us believing in our ability, believing in the group we have got while turning the draws into wins and if we go behind turning defeats into draws.

“Its still early days, but when you look at where we were last week in joint fourth – where we warranted to be – we have now dropped to 14th and the performance levels we have produced warrant we are a better side than where we are in the table.

“So we are still striving to reach that consistency.”

Reflecting on the first home league defeat of the season at Crown Meadow last week, Godbold said: “It was really disappointing we didn’t take anything from the game.

“While we weren’t necessarily at our best, it shows how far we have come in that we were still expecting to take something from the game.

“But unfortunately the poor goals we conceded ultimately cost us and we left the game empty handed.

“When you take Josh Curry, Adam Tann and Travis Cole out of the defence through injury – people who head the ball well in both boxes – we struggled to replace that.

“We knew it would be tough and before the game we spoke about not conceding any free kicks or corners, so it was disappointing that after all the hard work and efforts we put in we conceded at set pieces.

“We have been good at those so far this season, but on Saturday their quality into the box caused us problems.”

Despite the defeat, Godbold was quick to praise a return to competitive goalscoring form for Kieran Higgs.

Godbold said: “He has done really well over the past few weeks after we moved him up top and he deserved his goal.

“Higgsy is looking a bit more like his old self and we’re really pleased for him.

“You could see the weight lifts off his shoulders with that goal and at the time I thought it was a good time for us to score and we could kick on in the game.

“But that did not materialise and disappointingly we conceded a late goal.”

Looking forward to the week ahead, first up for The Trawlerboys will be Lewes, who play in the Isthmian League Premier Division, and are currently 18th in the table with eight points from eight games.

Godbold said: “I think its a good draw for us.

“A home draw against a team who have some good players and some good staff, but they appear to be struggling a bit results-wise.

“We know however it will be a tough game against a powerful side, as the majority of teams are at this level.

“We then have a home game on Tuesday against Biggleswade, who are a different side to what we faced last year after lots of changes in the summer.

“Tuesday night games at home are a time when we normally play very well, so I’m looking for that to continue next week.”

Defenders Adam Tann, Travis Cole, Jack Wilkinson and Josh Curry will all miss tomorrow’s match through injury and illness, but everyone else in the squad is available.

Lowestoft have also extended Ipswich Town U23 striker Colin Oppong’s loan for another month and the Blues boss is hopeful that he may be able to include a couple of other new recruits in the coming matches.

Godbold said: “Please come and support us and cheer us on over the next two home games.

“It is tough times but your support is appreciated greatly by the group.”