JOINT Droitwich Spa manager Wayne Oliver felt there were plenty of positives despite a 2-0 loss to Midlands Division Two leaders Coventry United.

Spa paid the price for conceding two early goals and seeing a James Lemon penalty saved, but Oliver felt his 12th-placed side were the better team.

A Robert Printzel goal had caught out ‘keeper Matt Oliver, while a fine effort from Christopher Cox doubled United’s lead inside six minutes.

But the hosts then took control of the game.

“On another day we’d have been talking about a victory,” said Oliver. “But the lads were excellent and you couldn’t tell which side was at the top and who was in the bottom half.

“They scored because of an error by our ‘keeper and then made it 2-0 with a great individual strike but after that we were very good.

“We defended well and had two shots cleared off the line, there were an awful lot of positives.”

The clash against Coventry kicked off a testing run of games for Spa, who now go to second-placed Barnt Green Spartak on Saturday (3pm).

Oliver added: “We are playing all the top sides in the next few weeks so I am not expecting to get much out of February, but we’ve got a winnable run of matches after that.”

James Ward is back from suspension, while Droitwich also welcome back Adam Grainger and Mark Burroughs.