Having started the day in fourth, Long Eaton United had secured a play-off spot thanks to their 4-0 win over Grantham Town on Easter Monday.
A draw would have meant the Blues stayed fourth despite Worcester City’s result, but a loss and a win for Worcester meant we dropped to fifth.
Johnston’s third minute goal was the only goal in the game, and it set the tempo for what was an unattractive game of football on an unattractive pitch.
The hosts came into the game with the plan to strike early and only attacked the counter via long balls over the top and behind the defence. They had no plan on playing slick stylish football.
Brad Munn made a flurry of changes to the side that secured a play-off spot on Monday.
Lewis King remained in goal, but he had a new back four as Jamie Hanson replaced a resting Jayden Cotterill. Gianluca Bucci partnered Hanson whilst Owen Betts and Callum Cocks were named as the full backs.
Connor Pace began alongside Andrew Wright in midfield. Tristan Thompson Matthews was named in the starting lineup for the fourth time in the last five games.
James Taylor took up his preferred right-wing position with James Shaw starting in the middle and Dexter Walters on the left – this was his first start since joining the side in January.
The hosts took the lead as David Adegbola slid Johnston through on goal. The forward slotted the ball under King who was rushing out.
We had our first chance of the game in the seventh minute as Taylor had beautifully dribbled through three players and got his shot away. Unfortunately, it was blocked by a fourth defender and had gone out for a corner, but it was a glimpse of hope.
In the opening 16 minutes, the host had put the ball in our net three times. However, two of them were disallowed due to an offside in the build up and the other was due to a foul on Bucci in the buildup.
The pitch was not the best pf quality, but the boys were growing into the game and were managing the pitch as they were moving the ball and carving chances. Pace had tried his luck a few times early on from range, but none of them troubled the goalkeeper.
The boys held their defensive shape well as the hosts tactic of lumping it forward and scoring on the counter was not successful as our backline caught them offside plenty of times throughout the game.
We had a really good chance in the 38th minute. King began with the ball and executed a beautiful cross the pitch ball to Betts – King is an artist with the ball at his feet. From Betts, he played Tristan, who threaded Shaw through on goal. Unfortunately, the pitch did not do us any favours as the ball bounced away from Shaw and out for a goal kick.
We had one final good chance in the 44th minute. Betts received the ball out wide and he had a shot on goal at a very tight angle, which forced the goalkeeper to stretch and get a finger to it. The ball went out for a corner and resulted in a cross to Bucci at the back post. He was unmarked, but he could not get it on target.
We made a double change at half-time as Taylor and Hanson made way for Liam Loughlan and academy lad Oscar Hugenholtz.
The second half carried on just like the first, long balls and unattractive football.
We made another change in the 65th minute as Evaan Garnett replaced Walters.
Loughlan’s arrival at half-time gave us some much-needed flair when going forward. He won a free-kick on the edge of the box in the 67th minute. He fancied his chances and stepped up to take the free-kick, however, it went high and wide of the goal.
In the final ten minutes, Shaw had two shots blocked well by the hosts inside their box, Hugenholtz stepped up at the back and stopped a 1v1.
Omotolani Omotola replaced Tristan in the final minutes, but it was too late as the hosts held on to their one-goal lead.
The final whistle blew, and a quick check of the Worcester City’s result confirmed our position in the league and our upcoming fixture with Corby Town.
We will travel to Corby Town on Tuesday 29th in our play-off semi-final.

Match report: Damion Arnold