Tranmere Rovers captain Scott Davies expressed his disappointment as Mike Jackson's side were defeated 8-7 on penalties by Harrogate Town in the Carabao Cup first-round.
With the match tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the visitors eventually came out on top despite Davies denying Harrogate forward Mark Beck in the resulting shootout.
Manny Monthe's penalty miss proved to be decisive as the away side booked their place in the second-round of the competition, but the 33-year-old goalkeeper believes there was little to separate the two sides at Prenton Park as he reflected on the afternoon’s events.
Speaking to the local press, Davies said: “We knew what their threats were going to be, we knew they were going to be high-energy, press and go direct. At times, we got sucked into doing that ourselves. We just needed a little bit more calmness about it. We’re disappointed to lose, but the league is our bread and butter and it’s another 90 minutes towards next week.
“We’ve been together long enough now, all the new lads have bedded in. I think it was a case of us getting caught up in their game-plan instead of implanting more of ours. Going forward we need to make sure that’s not the case and put our stamp on the game, because we’ve got good footballers who can control games. Personally, for me, I don’t think there was much in the game and we could have very easily won it and should have seen it out.
“I made a couple of saves in the game but penalties are penalties, aren’t they? You’ve got to go with your gut and hope that it’s your day. Fair play to them [Harrogate], they’ve won the penalty shootout. Sometimes the crowd can play a part when it comes to nerves, in situations like that, and I do feel the crowd have even more of an impact. But it’s the same for all players out there. Today they were better than us at a penalty shootout.”