Gary McCann was far from downbeat in his assessment of last night's Middlesex Senior Cup exit.

He said, "The final score of 5–2 was very deceiving," he said. "We more than matched Staines for most of the match.

"Our passing and possession was excellent and we got some very good performances from players in positions they are not used to, especially Dave Diedhiou at centre-half. Tony Taggart at left-back, Max McCann in midfield and Andre Da Costa up front all deserve a mention for their performances too.

"But the difference between the two teams was the performance of their goalkeeper. Jack Turner made four or five absolutely magnificent saves to keep them in the game.

"I was a little disappointed in the way that we conceded goals so soon after scoring. The last two goals came because we were looking to get back into the game and didn’t have as many players in the box as we would usually do.

"My team selection was based on our needs, not only in terms of giving players minutes, but also with Saturday's FA Trophy game in mind. Two or three players will be back from injury on Saturday and there were others I was not prepared to risk."