Tigers too tame as cup exit means first loss of season

Worksop Town assistant manager Rob Poulter said the Tigers did not do themselves justice as they were unable to create an FA Cup upset and fell to their first defeat of the season in all competitions.

Northern Premier League Nantwich Town progressed 5-2 from the first qualifying round tie, although Northern Counties East League Worksop battled hard.

“It’s disappointing. We’ve put faith in lads and maybe they’ve not justified our team selection and not done themselves justice,” said Poulter.

“But we’ve got to be realistic and remember where we are coming from and who we were up against.”

Connor Brunt had fired the Tigers level around the half-hour.

But three home goals in the opening 15 minutes of the second half ended the tie, although Tomas Poole poached a second for Worksop eight minutes from time before Nantwich completed the scoring.

Poulter added: “We were disappointed to lose 5-2 but credit to Nantwich. They are a good side at this level.

“As the lower league team we had to make sure we were bang at it and I’m not sure we were.

“They scored goals too easily.

“We had to stop balls coming into the box.

“It was only really when the game was at 4-1 that we started doing that and relaxed a little.

“We just didn’t match them. We didn’t match their energy and gave them a bit of an easy ride.

“We have to remember though where we are currently and we said that to the lads afterwards — they (Nantwich) are two leagues higher, but I felt we didn’t give the best account of ourselves.

“Our lads had to react to the game a bit better, but maybe me and (manager) Craig (Denton) have to do that as well.

“We felt that three in the middle and three up front (meant) we should be able to deal with what the opposition were bringing to the table.”