Devizes assistant manager John Freegard said his side's performance was what he has been were looking for all pre-season but they were still beaten.

Hallen ground out their victory andtook 70 minutes to break down a stubborn Devizes defence.

Stand-in manager Freeguard was very pleased with the way the team handled themselves.

He said: "After the pre-season we have had we took many positives out of this game. The players did not let us down."

Freegard has taken over at Nussteed Road after manager Mark Godley took two weeks off to get over the death of his father during the summer.

He said before he left: This pre-season has been difficult for me both personally and professionally."

Devizes had many chances to take the lead but were struggling in front of goal. They kept Hallen at bay for the first half and came out in the second the better side.

Freegard said: "We did very well in the first half and for the first 20 25 minutes of the second we were by far the better side. But we could not score."

David Lloyd came close with a one on one which was well saved by the Hallen keeper. Dave Macey had a host of chances saved as Devizes were taking control of the game.

Freegard said: "We played well for 70 minutes but could not put the ball in the back of the net. Until the 70th minute we dominated, we then conceded a soft goal late in the game."

Hallen thought they had taken the lead in the 69th minute when they scored direct from a free kick. But the but the linesman ruled it offside. The resulting free kick was scuffed straight to Hallen's Tony Beecham. He was left with a straightforward one on one with the goalkeeper to put the visitors ahead.

Devizes substitute Marcus Wallen could have brought his side level but his volley flew narrowly over the bar.

Freegard gambled on trying to get back into the game and threw four men up front.

But the gamble backfired when Hallen broke away and Dan Copeland ran through to make it 2-0.

Freeguard said: "When you do that two things can happen. You can go two nil down or equalise.

But some of the players had their best performances so far and I was pleased with that."

"The lads were all fired up and at last gave us the performance we were looking for. For the first time this year they played proper Screwfix football and everyone on the pitch did well."

Devizes' miserable start continued on Tuesday night when they were beaten 1-0 at home by Brislington.