Sutton United boss Paul Doswell would not berate his charges after Saturday’s defeat at Eastleigh, instead he looked on them with pride.

A 2-1 defeat on the south coast leaves United 13th in the National League table ahead of this weekend’s home clash against Guiseley.

The scores were deadlocked at 0-0 after 45 minutes, but the hosts were 2-0 ahead inside five minutes of the second half.

However, Doswell made three changes and the game changed with Eastleigh keeper Ryan Clarke making top drawer saves before Ross Stearn halved the deficit with his second goal of the season.

And United should have drawn level from the spot, but Bedsente Gomis, on penalty duty in the absence of the suspended Nicky Bailey, saw his effort save by former AFC Wimbledon keeper Clarke.

Doswell said: “We were absolutely brilliant for the last half hour, we created five excellent chances and their keeper has pulled off some world class saves and we’ve missed a penalty – so I am very proud of the team for that second half performance.

“It would have been easy for us to fold at 2-0 down, we did not do that, we goal the goal back and created numerous chances, and they were hanging on at the end for dear life, but they got the points.”

He added: “It is similar to Wrexham, similar to Gateshead, but I am proud of the team.

“It is easy to chuck the towel in sometimes, but this team does not do that.”

Doswell’s triple change had the impact that thus far this season he says has been missing, but he also admitted that the players replaced had done their jobs.

“Bradley [Hudson-Odoi], Chris [Dickson] and Ross [Stearn] made a huge difference coming off the bench for that last half an hour – maybe one of my minor moans is that we have not had much of an impact coming off the bench, but I thought the three of them today changed the game,” he said.

“We asked Max [Biamou] and Dan [Fitchett] to do a job in the first half, which they did very well, but it was a physically demanding job and after an hour we felt we could get those fresh legs on and it worked well.”

The chance to salvage a point from the penalty spot was not lost on Doswell, but he insisted the team win as one, and lose as one.

“The disappointment of missing the penalty will hurt, but there is no blame attached to anyone – it is just one of those things in football,” he added.

“Lionel Messi misses penalties, it is one of those things in football – Bedsente is disappointed, and everyone is disappointed, but that is why we love football, you have your highs and your lows.

“At the moment we’re disappointed, but there will be plenty more highs than lows as the season goes on.”