THE FA Cup defeat at Hampton and Richmond Borough on Saturday was a huge disappointment to us, but we have to get over it as quickly as possible with the FA Trophy coming up this weekend.

I don't think we were ever in with a chance to establish a base for the game on Saturday.

Going one down after two minutes, and to a poor defensive goal at that, gave them a lift straight away and it put yards on them and took yards out of our own performances.

I know there were some people who said it didn't look as if it mattered and it didn't look as if some people were trying.

But in all my time in the game, I don't know a player that has deliberately gone on the pitch to do badly.

I thought it was a pitiful showing but I can't subscribe to the view that they weren't bothered and not trying. Not good enough on the day, I would agree with.

If we had showed a little bit of what we had got against Tamworth and Merthyr Tydfil, in terms of standing up for ourselves and being up front with our performances, it would have made the game a contest.

I think the scoreline flattered them although not the result. We have had to go out and push players forward, and we were well aware that we didn't want to be left chasing it and ultimately expose ourselves to breakaways and threats down the flanks, and that is exactly what happened.

I think we could have a few false dawns where we are going to put a run together and then put a pin in our own balloon, as we did on Saturday.

Disappointing as it was, and believe me it was and there was no bigger disappointment than in the dressing room, that was a further indication of what we are likely to have on occasions.

Even though we have lost only one in seven, we may have had some good results but we haven't had an abundance of very good performances.

I know it is still not right, and what we are trying to do is make improvements along the way, which will ultimately leave us with an article that is going to give us a chance.

We are sixth in the league and we have been relatively pleased with how it has gone so far. But that doesn't mean to say we are not trying to improve it.

I don't see a quick fix to the job, and it would be wrong of me to try and convince people at the club and the supporters that that will be the case. I am sure Graham Allner was saying the same thing from his standpoint when he was at the club.

The club has this level of expectation hanging around its neck like a noose, and if levels are too high and beyond what can be achieved, it ends up with disappointment.

On Monday against Halesowen in the Worcestershire Senior Cup, we gave a much stronger and better performance.

Instead of struggling to identify players who played well, this time names flowed off the tongue of players who turned in decent performances.

I thought Mike Wyatt did well on the wing. He has had a decent start at the club but hasn't been as effective over the last month as he was at the start, but on Saturday when he came on and again on Monday, his performance was encouraging.

It was also good to see Micky Cotter score his first goal. We are trying to do everything on the back of matches with him, to get him match-fit, scoring goals and being a valuable contributor to our performances.

But without scoring, Micky has made some valuable contributions in terms of his running off the ball, and there are other things that can get better with him.

Hopefully the result will have been beneficial leading up to Saturday's home FA Trophy clash with Mangotsfield, which will be tricky for us.