St Neots Town’s FA Cup exit was painful, but at least it wasn’t in the league, said manager Dennis Greene.

IT’S A painful defeat to accept, and we’re disappointed to have lost the unbeaten record – but at least it wasn’t in the league.

At 2-1 up and playing 11 against 10, we should have had the game in the bag, but we threw it away. We had the game under control but we didn’t kill it off.

In the second half, before we had a man sent off, we had three glorious opportunities to score, but couldn’t put them away. If we’d got the third there would have been no way back for them, but we handed them a lifeline.

When we went down to 10 men with 25 minutes left, you can imagine how they must have felt – they were going out of the cup and we’ve given them a second chance on an even footing at home.

They had more possession, and they played better than us for the last 25 minutes, but we shouldn’t have conceded two such similar goals from the edge of the box.

Sometimes they go in, sometimes they get parried and sometimes they go high, wide and handsome. They took their chances, and we didn’t.

We can take some positives from the fact we went away to a team at the top of their league, controlled the game, and didn’t get opened up by them. A five-minute lapse of concentration, and the game had slipped away.

We need to pick ourselves up quickly because we have games coming thick and fast now. But it doesn’t worry me, because I know the players can get their focus straight back on the league.

We have Long Buckby on Saturday, and they’re going along well, so it’ll be another tough game. I just want us to make sure we put away some of the chances we’ve been creating.