IT was another frustrating evening for Thornbury Town manager Richard Joyce as he watched his side slip to a 3-1 defeat at Hereford Pegasus on Friday night.

Youngster Stanley Wyatt cancelled out Cawley Cox' third-minute opener to make it 1-1 at the break but an own-goal and a stoppage-time strike from Nathan Chowns Higgs meant Thornbury went home empty-handed.

"The late goal for Pegasus probably makes the gap between the teams on the night look bigger than what it was," said the boss.

"Both teams had an equal amount of chances but we made some errors that they avoided and it proved costly for us in the end."

It was only the second time Thornbury had played on an artificial pitch this season and after a tricky match on a heavy pitch at Tuffley Rovers in mid-week, Joyce was pleased with the way his side conducted themselves.

"Pegasus are a good team and when they play at home on the 3G pitch they have a style and identity on that surface that suits them," he added.

"They create high overloads in wide areas with the full backs, have talented wide players, a young centre forward who is one of the better ones at this level and are then backed up by what's behind them.

"Our lads had to work extremely hard having travelled all the way up on a Friday night and just a few days on from an evening on a heavy pitch at Tuffley in the Floodlit Cup out of possession, but we found a way to be a bit more protective than we were at the start which stopped their early momentum.

"I thought Joe Guest was excellent for us at the back and Stanley Wyatt was very good too going forwards. He scored a great goal and had some other good chances for us.

"Adam (Clark, goalkeeper) also made some good saves for us and made a good first impression and we're thankful to Stonehouse Town for ensuring his transfer went through quickly this week so he could be involved."

The defeat means Thorns stay second bottom of the Hellenic League Premier table. They will be hoping for better this weekend when they host fellow strugglers Hereford Lads Club at The Mundy's on Saturday afternoon.