Wiltshire Under 18s boss Pete Cooper said his young squad are being asked to play too many games after a 4-1 defeat to Cornwall cost them the league title at Hardenhuish Park on Saturday.

Cooper’s side needed to avoid defeat to be crowned South West County champions, but looked lethargic from the off and had to suffer the humiliation of seeing their visitors leave with a win and the title.

“We just didn’t play and there were a lot of tired legs out there,” he said.

“I’ve got five players from New College and they played four games last week. It’s just too much for them.”

Lively winger Danny Young pulled a goal back for Wiltshire to make the score 2-1 after the break, after good work from Jamie Prichter, but it proved to be in vain.

“I don’t think they were that much better than us,” said the former Melksham Town boss. “But they made it 2-0 straight from the kick-off in the second half and I couldn’t see us getting back into it after that point.

“We’ve played a lot better teams this season and beaten them.

“It turned out to be one game too many for us and it came at the wrong time.”