Manager Ollie Drake admitted Godmanchester Rovers paid for failings at both ends of the pitch when suffering an early FA Vase elimination.

The local club entered and exited at the second round of the national competition last Saturday when being beaten 5-2 by fellow Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division side Woodbridge Town.

Top-scorer James Hall and midfielder Micky Hyem fluffed golden chances for Rovers early on, but the Suffolk hosts were considerably more clinical as they breezed into a three-goal lead by the midway point of the first half.

Hall did succeed in cutting Rovers' arrears early in the second period and they were then hugely unfortunate not to make further inroads as a Hyem blast from 25 yards hit the post and the back of the Woodbridge goalkeeper before bouncing out for a corner.

The home side then struck twice more in quick succession to kill off the contest before Hyem added a spectacular consolation when striking straight from kick-off.

"The brutal truth is that we didn't deserve to progress in the vase due to the way we defended and the fact we missed so many chances," said Drake.

"Woodbridge put virtually all of their good opportunities away whereas we created far more and only took one of them.

"Micky's goal was a moment of genius and it's just a shame it didn't more relevance on the result.

"We didn't have the quality or the luck on our side, and we cannot continue to be so inconsistent.

"We thought we were getting back on track after two good results and performances, but this is another step backwards."

Rovers had expected Tom Spark and Chris Hyem to be suspended after inadvertantly playing when ineligible in this competition last season.

Those bans were overturned late last week, but it didn't help as Hyem missed out due to injury and Spark suffered a serious ankle problem in the warm-up.

Rovers have completed the permanent signing of wideman Josh Dawkin following a loan spell earlier in the season.

Drake could also add a couple more new faces to his squad ahead of a Saturday trip to rock-bottom Gorleston.

But that fixture certainly doesn't look like being a cakewalk for Rovers who have a host of regular players missing.

Rovers' defence of their Hunts Senior Cup crown has been held up by bad weather. A home quarter-final against higher-level Yaxley was postponed last night (Wednesday).