DANNY Scopes believes Concord Rangers’ 2-0 defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough demonstrated how brutal the National League South can be.

The Beach Boys went into the contest having recorded six consecutive victories.

But goals from Ryan Hill and Danilo Orsi-Dadomo ensured Concord were beaten for the first time since November and Scopes admits his side were not at their best.

“It was disappointing to lose after we had been on a good run of games,” said Concord boss Scopes.

“Our home form has been pretty good this season, so losing at home was particularly frustrating.

“I just felt we had too many players not at the top of their game.

“Our decision making all over the park wasn’t very good and you can end up with a disjointed performance when players are not at their best.

“Hampton were quite energetic and made a lot better decisions than us on the day.

“That just shows how brutal this league is at times.

“If you don’t play to the best of your ability, you can get punished and that is what happened.”

Hampton took a 14th minute lead at the Aspect Arena thanks to Hill hooking the ball home from close range after the Beach Boys failed to clear their lines following a Ruaridh Donaldson throw-in.

Concord responded with defender Aron Pollock’s looping header forcing Hampton goalkeeper Dan Lincoln into action before Tom Clifford’s teasing free-kick was diverted over his own crossbar by Sam Cox.

Despite a promising start to the second period, where Lamar Reynolds headed a driven Kreshnic Krasniqi cross onto the roof of the net, Hampton sealed all three points as former East Thurrock United striker Orsi-Dadomo delicately dinked over the onrushing Chris Haigh.

And Scopes concedes Concord were guilty of not having a cutting edge.

“We didn’t make their goalkeeper make too many saves,” admitted Scopes, whose side are 11th in the standings.

“Although Haighy didn’t make many saves either and they had roughly the same amount of shots, they took their chances.

“We lacked that little bit of quality going forward, but we have been quite good in that area recently.

“I just think we didn’t really give ourselves a platform defensively or in midfield to start generating attacks.

“Their front two caused us problems and stopped us building a base.”