BRAINTREE Town boss Angelo Harrop said he was hurt and disappointed after his side crashed out of the FA Cup at Chesham United, writes DAVID WARD.

The Iron lost their fourth qualifying round replay 3-1 after extra-time, missing out on a first-round home tie against Maidstone United.

Harrop said: "I'm so disappointed - I'm gutted and it's hurt me and as I've told the players I hope they are hurting because we gave this game away make no bones about it.

"We're 1-0 up and should have scored more but late on and then we invited their pressure and didn't get out to the ball which we should have done yet we didn't and it cost us.

"We are too flaky at times and we must have more desire from every player.

"I don't want us to just play some great stuff and we must be more ruthless in front of goal and that's what has cost us in both these game."

"I'm gutted for our fans because they support in places like this on a Tuesday night and I'm sorry we get the job done."

Braintree can have no complaints because it was an insipid, disjointed and thoroughly disappointing display involving at times wrong tactics and wrong substitutions.

Gazette:

The team clearly didn't fully learn the lessons that should have been gained from the first encounter on Saturday because despite creating a host of chances, they again failed miserably in front of goal with the Iron in desperate need of a cutting edge and a striker who can convert the opportunities.

The home side again relied on the high ball syndrome to supply their front line and only when Braintree did play the ball on the ground, along either wings did they look threatening, but all too often they copied their opponents with high balls but to no effect.

As in the first game the Iron played well in the first half and again should have scored.

It was only a minute from half-time that Aaron Blair drove the ball low and goalwards from the right wing which fortuitously skimmed off a defender and looped over the home keeper's head into the net.

The Iron should have come out after the interval full of confidence and then taken the game too them and scored at least two more times to settle the issue.

But instead they huffed and puffed allowing the home side to regain the majority of play and but for some stout Iron defending, they would have conceded the equaliser.

Leading with about 15 minutes to go, Braintree appeared to sit back and allow the hosts to come forward at will.

It proved disastrous because in the third of four minutes added time on to the 90 minutes, the home side finally scored the goal they had long threatened to do.

With an equaliser, Chesham's tails were and four minutes into extra-time the Iron conceded another dreadful goal when the ball should have been cleared from a corner.

Three minutes later it looked as if their was some redemption for the Iron when they were rightly awarded a penalty.

But Blair's spot-kick was dreadful as he stroked the ball low on the ground straight at the keeper, who hardly had to make a save because it was such a soft shot.

This again only gave the home side fresh impetus to go searching again for a third goal and but some excellent saves from Iron keeper Vicentre Reyes and some last-gasp defending from his defence they looked likely in achieving this.

But in the third minute of stoppage time, with Reyes and all the Iron defenders in the home area for two final corners, Chesham broke clean away to score the simplest of goals with no Iron players around to prevent it sliding into the net.

It was a bitterly finale for the Iron fans in the 800-plus crowd who had come to expect their side to complete the job and make it through to the first round.

But there's simply no excuse - it was an unsatisfactory display by the Iron who clearly have players in the team not fully committed to the cause and are all too easily brushed aside by on this occasion, a more determined home outfit.