The excellent unbeaten and winning runs were bound to come to an end at some point but it was still very frustrating to walk away from Boundary Park with a defeat when it could so easily have been a victory.

Alas, sloppiness at the back - for the first time in a long time - saw us ship three totally avoidable goals against an average Solihull Moors side. And, once again, we were wasteful with our chances that we created. How many times have we said that this season?

The otherwise terrific display of Josh Lundstram was partially spoiled when he went right through the middle but squandered his opportunity, though he did score a superbly taken consolation in stoppage time, and Mike Fondop also missed a couple of gilt-edged efforts on goal.

They were the obvious issues but overall it was a performance that just lacked a little bit of a spark.

Mark Kitching scored a header against SolihullMark Kitching scored a header against Solihull (Image: Phill Smith)

We never really got up enough of a head of steam to put real sustained pressure on the opposition and really peg them back. It just felt a bit lacklustre, perhaps best summed up by skipper Tom Conlon being replaced after a quiet game, which was surprising as he has recently looked to be finding his form alongside Lundstram in the engine room.

Man of the match was Mark Kitching and he scored another goal to add to his collection this season. His current form is almost like having a new signing coming into the side after losing his place in pre-season but fighting to win it back and that is great to see.

I’ve avoided mentioning officials all season so far and by no means am I blaming them for defeat on Saturday. However, the standard of officiating has been repeatedly poor this season.

Regularly linesmen aren’t up with play - the third goal looked a yard off to me from my seat - and, despite Saturday’s referee being an experienced Football League official, some of the decision making was baffling, not for the first time in 24/25 so far.

With the standard of football in the fifth tier often being of a good quality, it’s a real shame the level of officiating can’t match that.

Despite disappointment at the run coming to an end as well as not being clinical enough, it’s been a more than solid start to the season and the first time we have scored goals in each of the first 13 league games since before Joe Royle was manager.

With a break in league action and the visit of Halifax in the FA Cup, it gives Micky Mellon plenty of time to continue working on improving that cutting edge to hopefully firstly see us into the first round proper and then to get us ready for a run of three games in quick succession in the league.