Rob Kelly felt his side paid the price for not being good enough on the ball as Harrogate Town earned all three points with a 1-0 win at The Progression Solicitors Stadium on Tuesday.
The caretaker boss admitted the players had not got into their stride in possession during the encounter but still said he was disappointed they weren’t able to see it through to get a point.
Instead, Jack Muldoon climbed off the bench to win it for the visitors when they caught The Bluebirds on the break and the front man ran through to produce a clinical finish six minutes from time
“It was a tough game,” Kelly told iFollow.
“We were up against a team who are good at what they do so fair play to them for that – they put the ball in your box and ask you lots of questions and they’re difficult opponents.
“Without the ball we worked hard and competed physically but with the ball I just don’t think we played. We weren’t really brave enough and got dragged into the type of game it ended up becoming.
“On nights like that when you know you’re not playing as well as you can with the ball, you lock them out, you’re ruthless and you take your point.
“The most disappointing thing was that there wasn’t very much in the game so we should have taken it for what it was – take the point and move on.
“I think we chased the result and sometimes when that happens you get hit with the sucker punch because the game looked like it was going to be 0-0.
“We’ll suffer in the next 24 hours but on Thursday we come in and get ready for the next one so the players will do everything to recover well and be ready for that.”