Deeping Rangers are beaten by Shirebrook Town in the United Counties League

Deeping Rangers have dropped back into the United Counties League Premier Division North relegation zone after defeat at Shirebrook Town on Saturday.

The Clarets went down to a 2-0 away defeat as their Derbyshire hosts leapfrogged Rangers to move out of the bottom two.

Ollie Fearon fired a goal in each half as Deeping were unable to bounce back from their derby defeat at Bourne Town.

Manager Brett Whaley offered an apology to the travelling Deeping faithful after a disappointing display from his side.

He said: "It's a massively disappointing result.

"It was disappointing to have lost on Wednesday night but it was a game that we thought we could and wanted to win rather than Saturday where we had to win or certainly couldn't lose it which has happened.

"Apologies to anyone who came and watched it because it must have been tough after coming all this way for a disappointing result.

"It will hurt everyone at the football club but we felt we were getting away from where we were in the relegation zone.

"We thought we had picked up but you can't put on performances like that.

"There are excuses behind it in terms of decisions going against you and injuries but that happens in football.

"The fact is that Shirebrook got the result even though we had more chances and more of the ball. It doesn't count for anything because it's about the ball being in the back of the net.

"I don't want to take anything away from Shirebrook because it was a game that both sides had to win."

Deeping had created the first opening of the game when Will Barnes flashed a header just wide from a Matt Sparrow corner.

But they then fell behind in the 18th minute as Fearon beat Clarets custodian Niall Shackleton to the ball before hitting home the opening goal into an unguarded net.

Dan Dougill twice went close to getting Rangers back on level terms as a shot was tipped to safety by the home goalkeeper before a header landed on the roof of the Shirebrook net.

Cal Davies also put a good opening wide as Deeping went into the interval a goal adrift.

Sparrow was thwarted in a one-on-one after the break before Shirebrook doubled their lead just past the hour mark.

Fearon timed his run perfectly to race clear and lob his finish over the advancing Shackleton to put Shirebrook in control.

Rangers rang the changes in a bid to get back into the game but were unable to make an impression on the scoreline.

With a number of sides around Deeping in the league table winning on Saturday, they are now two points adrift of safety ahead of Saturday's tough trip to fourth-placed Newark Town.

Whaley added: "We, as a group, will have a lot of soul-searching this week - not just the players but the management as well because we put the team out. We are all going to take responsibility for it.

"If anybody thought we were ok and not in a relegation scrap then they need a reality check of where we are.

"There is now a gap and the games don't get any easier so it's going to be a really difficult and big week for us.

"We'll find out a lot about the characters that we've got in the dressing room and ourselves as well."