Under-18s manager Pete Haynes says his young group felt the disappointment of not matching some of their recent levels of performance in their FA Youth Cup defeat to Blackpool on Wednesday night.
Having impressively reached the fourth round stage of the competition and made it into the last 32, it's Blackpool who have progressed into the final 16 as they claimed a 3-1 win despite being reduced to ten men following a red card in the first half.
Haynes felt it was a missed opportunity for his players who struggled to find a way back into the tie having fallen behind for a second time on the night.
"The overall reaction and reflection from the players is that they are disappointed to go out maybe in the manner that we did," he said.
"Credit to Blackpool, they did very well on the night. They were competitive.
"Ultimately I think that was mainly the players disappointment that we were maybe outfought and some of our fundementals weren't quite as good as they have been in previous games.
"Obviously it's a great achievement to get to the point in the competition that we have done, but I think there's a bit of disappointment at a missed opportunity to have potentially gone further."
Watch the full interview with Haynes above on iFollow and on the EFL iFollow app on your smartphone.
The under-18s fixture calendar for 2021 has now come to an end and they will restart their campaign in the New Year.
For the first team however there are a number of Christmas fixtures, starting with a Boxing Day home clash with Plymouth Argyle with tickets for the visit of the Pilgrims to Gloucestershire available to buy online. Save £2 by buying in advance before matchday.
