Blues boss Kieran McKenna paid full credit to Maidstone following the National League South side’s 2-1 FA Cup victory over the Blues at Portman Road and admitted it was “a horrible game to lose”.

Goals from Lamar Reynolds and Sam Corne sandwiched Jeremy Sarmiento’s first home goal for the Blues to see the non-league side to a famous victory.

“First of all, it’s full credit to Maidstone, it’s a fantastic day for them, they worked ever so hard for it,” McKenna said.

“Of course, they rode their luck as well, but they were very, very clinical and they showed a fantastic spirit to get the result.

“It’s a bad day for us and it’s a lot of disappointment and we’re going to have to live with that and produce a response next week.

“I thought we started ever so well, I can’t really fault the attitude. We prepared the game well, we started terrifically and that’s irrespective of the level of the opponent.

“I thought it was a really good start to the game, we had big chances, we hit the woodwork a couple of times, the keeper produced some fantastic saves and the longer the game goes on like that, our belief drops a little bit.

“They defend with more resolution and at that stage they’re hoping for a moment and they got it with the corner.

“We had an injury on the edge of the box that we should have communicated better on the pitch. They broke away and got the goal that really put the tie to life for them.

“I think we’ve had 38 shots on goal, the opposition have had two, we need to be, of course, much more clinical than we were. They were incredibly clinical with their two and they defend with great resolution in their goal and full credit to them for that.”

McKenna felt Sarmiento was fouled ahead of Maidstone’s second goal: “I thought there was pretty clear foul that led to the ball being given away.

“Having said that, their reaction was faster than ours to break for goal and again, it was a really good finish. But I thought it was a foul.”

Town also appeared to have a very good shout for a penalty in the second half when George Edmundson looked to be tripped, Premier League referee Anthony Taylor instead booking the Blues defender for a dive.

“I haven’t seen the replay, it looked like it live, to be honest,” McKenna said. “Maybe the fall can sometimes go against you, but it looked like his foot was kicked at the time but I haven’t seen it back.”

The result illustrated that the magic of cup is still alive with shocks still happening every round.

“We really didn’t want to be on the end of one and we prepared the game well and respected the opponent and did some good things in the game,” McKenna reflected.

“But that’s cup competitions, it happens every year, it happens all over the world, it’s happened to better teams than us before in terms of being knocked out by a side in the lower reaches, and it’s Maidstone’s day.

“Of course, We’ve had lots of good days over the last couple of years here, we’ve not had too many bad ones, but today is their day and they deserve to enjoy their celebrations and we wish them all the best for the next round.”

McKenna made 10 changes, as he has so often in cup matches, but felt that wasn’t a factor in the defeat.

“We’ve been consistent with that,” he said. “We did it for Wolves in the Carabao Cup this year, for example and won the game.

“We utilised the squad in the cup competitions, it’s a necessity for us really with the competition and the level that we’re competing with in the Championship this year and with how much of a stretch that is for our players.

“We need to utilise the squad, we utilise it every game in the league, to be honest, we make five subs pretty much every game and we utilise it in the cup competitions.

“We’ve been consistent with that. I think the team today, certainly had the quality to win the game.

“I think we created more than enough chances to win the game. Many aspects of the performance were good enough to win the game, apart from the most important bits, which is putting the ball in the net and stopping them doing it. That’s why we’re out of the cup.”

Quizzed on his emotions, whether he was angry or frustrated by the result, McKenna responded: “Anger usually comes if there was a lack of effort from the players and I didn’t think there was that. I didn’t think they showed any lack of respect for the opponent, I didn’t think there was any lack of effort on the pitch.

“I thought we tried, I thought we created lots of opportunities. Nobody planned to not take them, their goalkeeper had a fantastic game, they made fantastic blocks.

“The goals, and certainly the first goal, is something that we need to learn from. But I think it’s more disappointment at this stage, disappointment for the supporters mostly and for everyone at the football club that we’ve not managed to go through to the next round of the cup, which the club hasn’t done in a long time [2007] and we’ve been knocked out at home in front of a full stadium to a lower league team.

“Of course, it’s a horrible game to lose and it’s a bad day for us, but, honestly, I don’t have too many complaints about the efforts of the players.”

Looking ahead to next week’s Championship match at Preston North End, McKenna was asked whether it was important for his side to block out this result.

“We’ve certainly got to find the right response,” he said. “I don’t necessarily think it’s just about blocking it out because I think every experience we go through, we go through taking something from it.

“Of course, it’s a bad experience to go through but we have to go through it as a group, taking something from it. We have to take the lessons from it and try and find a way to utilise it to make us stronger.

“That’s what the next few days will be about at the training ground and we need to re-find our focus for Preston next weekend and prepare well again to try and go and deliver a performance there and make sure that we’re competitive in the last 18 games in the league.”

Asked if he is confident he can add a striker before Thursday’s deadline, McKenna confirmed he wants to add two.

“We want a couple, to be fair,” he said. “We’ve lost bodies over the course of the transfer window and we needed to add in that area anyway.

“That’s still the target and we’re still hopeful. I’ve said many times, January is a tough window, we have limitations in terms of what we can access but we’re going to work hard as a club to do that over the next few days.”

Photo: TWTD

Bezzer added 16:11 - Jan 27 Show some emotion man! You should be spitting feathers ffs!!
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cressi added 16:11 - Jan 27 100% need strikers in but good ones not Adhadme or Scarlet types at least one proven championship striker
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tractorboy2421 added 16:16 - Jan 27 He should be effing savage, don't worry about who knows either, get it out there man
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JohnTy added 16:20 - Jan 27 A very considered response. What a class manager he is. Always calm and analytical, or at least he appears to be.
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Bazza8564 added 16:21 - Jan 27 The two strikers thing is obviously well down the line, Phil wouldnt be reporting names otherwise, so Im less worried about that side of it. What pi**es me off from today (and I am home but won't watch it back it's too emotive) is the way our 2CB were out of position, Walton looked indecisive on both goals (whether to come or not) and all three of those guys lacked any sort of urgency when they had the ball. We play a fast paced counter attacking game and when a side defends in numbers you have to shift it out before they get a chance to regroup

12

johnwarksshorts added 16:24 - Jan 27 Sorry Cressi didn't mean to mark you down, fat finger syndrome.
0

Blandford73 added 16:25 - Jan 27 Today was embarrassing but KMK remains the best manager we have had for many years. The reasons Maidstone are in the next round might be because they wanted it more, or because we were unlucky, it might be down to a referee that has become reliant on VAR to make tough decisions for him or because our squad depth is not good enough. Whatever the reasons we need a plan B to compete against physically strong, resilient and defensive minded sides because over the next couple of months there will be a number of Championship teams that have been shown a way to beat us.

19

OliveR16 added 16:25 - Jan 27 He hasn't had much experience of apologising for abysmal selections and performances and it shows.
0

Bezzer added 16:26 - Jan 27 We’ve got some wet lettuce fans! Those who don’t want to see passion and anger from a manager after a result like that, shouldn’t be fans! I’m fed up with some of the after match comments! If the manager is not angry or frustrated with the players after that, then there’s your issue right there! Cue the he’s different behind closed doors! He might be, but I want to see him seething in public! Show the fans you’re not happy with the players! They all need to spend some time considering their performances! I expect they’ll all be out on the piss later, laughing and joking! Once again, us fans have to live with another humiliation!!

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BlueWax added 16:27 - Jan 27 KMCK is obviously disappointed and on another day we would have hit at least 3 or 4. I totally agree with him about the effort and I will only be embarrassed of my football team if we don't try. ....today the effort was there for sure. There will be some who totally over react and if you are one of those then it's your right i suppose. For me, 2nd in the table going into Feb after promotion is amazing....and another plus could be prem teams cooling their interest in Mckenna....somehow though i doubt it! Sarimento is our new Reuser and Hutch had a great game.

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johnwarksshorts added 16:27 - Jan 27 18 games left, let's hope by the end of them, this game is a dark distant memory and we have something better than FA Cup to cheer about.
9

HopefulBlue69 added 16:27 - Jan 27 Maidstone wanted it and who can blame them for amazing celebrations.. Time to face some difficult questions.. We have a pretty good solid first 11 but I'm trying to pick who they are at the moment. Something has happened in the team that we don't know about, Brandon Williams gone with no real explanation, Broadhead off the boil. I wonder if there is some connection there. Taylor has been poor since we brought him. Never seemed to have settled in the team. Will he make it or best to off load him. Axel has no pace with Maidstone players making him look really ordinary. Is he committed or just picking up his money each week. Davis not been the same since being humiliated at Leeds (who were his first big club). Does he need some support in terms of confidence building. Freddie didn't want to be here so right to let him go. Should we have sold him though. Doubt he ever come back. Should we cancel contracts of players that won't make it on the pitch and use the money for a striker- Aluko, Ball, Williams (think Jackson has earned the chance to see the season through). Will we be in the play off positions.. I think yes but now is the time to spend big on a striker

0

ElephantintheRoom added 16:29 - Jan 27 Empty words when you’ve fielded a reserves and rejects eleven that had probably never played together before.
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billlm added 16:31 - Jan 27 Bazza8564, what names has Phil mentioned,
0

mccarthy_is_god added 16:31 - Jan 27 How about a f ing apology? Disgraceful
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johnwarksshorts added 16:33 - Jan 27 Bezzer I hear what you're saying, but McKenna has never been that type of manager. He's always been calm and measured win or lose. Why would he change now. You must admit so far his style of management has worked. He'll never slag individuals off infront of media. We'll go again and concentrate all our efforts on business end of season.
24

Bert added 16:33 - Jan 27 Win or lose, good managers keep their emotions in check. Fans have the luxury of letting it out.
22

groundhog added 16:41 - Jan 27 Well at least Liverpool (or any other premier teams for that matter) won't now be looking at McKenna. On the downside if rumours are true about Davis being wanted it may well speed up his exit.
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pablo123 added 16:41 - Jan 27 Absolute disgrace
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groundhog added 16:41 - Jan 27 Well at least Liverpool (or any other premier teams for that matter) won't now be looking at McKenna. On the downside if rumours are true about Davis being wanted it may well speed up his exit.
1

Saxonblue74 added 16:42 - Jan 27 What's more embarrassing than the result is the ridiculous over the top reaction on this forum. We're having a fantastic season, record breaking in many areas and one freak result has some questioning McKenna and calling for sacking of players!!!! What do we want then? McKenna to throw some under the bus? Put them in the under 21's training sessions? I'm actually out to dinner with a Budgies fan tonight and expect he'll have a more level headed assessment than some on here!

30

SickParrot added 16:44 - Jan 27 Sorry Kieran, but the team you selected didn't show respect to Maidstone. I have no problem with resting a few key players but starting with Ball and Aluko was asking for trouble. Also Broadhead at centre forward and Jackson not even on the bench? So why did we let Ladapo go before we signed another centre forward? All these things were factors in a very embarrasing defeat that will go down in FA Cup history. Not a good day for the normally faultless Kieran. Lessons learned I wonder? Let's hope that there is no league hangover from today's inadequacies in both attack and defence.

4

Churchman added 16:44 - Jan 27 The effort was there. Can’t fault that. But the ability in certain areas and the cohesion after 20 mins wasn’t. They are in the 6th tier against a professional club in the second who were playing at home. No excuses, don’t blame refs and bad luck. It wasn’t good enough. Credit to Maidstone. Their players fitness, organisation and desire was excellent.
12

muhrensleftfoot added 16:45 - Jan 27 A bit disappointed he didn’t apologise for this abject performance. I do appreciate he tries to stay on the level, but this was the most embarrassing result in my life as a fan, and I saw my first game in 1967. In the wider sense it may not be too important as we probably weren’t going to win the cup, but this will live long in the history of cup upsets. I’m sure in private he will recognise the dreadful performances of Broadhead, and Aluko. Aluko is well past his best, and Broadhead hasn’t been on his game for weeks. Aluko should retire and Broadhead should not be first choice on his current form. There were other poor performances today too. My hope is that this result does not affect our confidence in the league. The games against Sunderland and Leicester gave me hope that we can stay in the top two. PNE away and WBA at home in the next two games will be markers.

1

hadleighboyblue added 16:48 - Jan 27 Credit to Maidstone , their gameplan worked perfectly , but there were some poor performances from Town today , the whole defence looked poor , Aluko and Taylor looked rusty . The 2 loan wingers looked lively , but we lacked a big target man and Chaplin's influence on games is not what it was . The whole team looked disjointed .
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