Town boss Kieran McKenna felt the Blues’ display as they were beaten 2-0 by Portsmouth in the Papa Johns Trophy was a mixed bag and that perhaps now might be the best time for his side to exit the tournament given their priorities for the season and the current injury situation.
Dane Scarlett put Pompey in front two minutes before half-time and sub Zak Swanson added the second in injury time to see the visitors through to the last 16 of the competition.
"It was a mixed bag, really,” McKenna said when asked what he made of the game. "A disappointing night overall to go out.
"Probably weren’t at our most cohesive across the game in general, which is fully understandable with the number of changes and also people coming into the team who haven’t trained with us very much and having to move a people around positionally.
"There were some good aspects of the performance. I thought we started really well but from the moment we conceded the counter-attack for the goal, we became a bit scruffy after that.
"It is what it is. Some good individual performances, really proud of the two midfielders, I thought Samy [Morsy] and Cam [Humphreys] were fantastic in there again, really wouldn’t want either of them playing the game in an ideal world, but that’s not where we are at the moment. I thought they were both fantastic.
"I thought Kane [Vincent-Young] and Greg [Leigh] coming in in both wide areas were very good and it was great for Greg. Again not ideal for him to play 60 minutes at the moment, but that was what he felt and what the medical team felt he could do, so credit to him and he performed very well.
"And Zanda [Siziba] and Albie [Armin] as well coming into the team. Zanda’s not trained with us too often and wouldn’t have been expecting to get such an early shout and came on and acquitted himself well, and Albie did the same when he came on.
"We take the positives on an individual level as a team. It’s certainly not the highest on our list of goals this year, so with where we’re at with the squad at the moment, we move on to our main targets.”
Reflecting on the competition overall, the Blues boss added: "I enjoyed the group stages certainly. It was really beneficial for the momentum in the group and in the squad. Good performances, a chance to give some of the younger players some minutes, some opportunities.
"Cameron Humphreys, for example, comes into the team in the earlier games and you see the way he’s slotted into the league side has been absolutely terrific, so that’s one of the benefits of the competition.
"In the early stages, we were able to make the number of changes that we wanted to make and if the health of the squad was a little bit different, then the goal for tonight would have been a little bit different.
"But with the situation as it is, it’s probably a the right time unfortunately for us to exit this in terms of where our main priority goals are.
"Of course, we want to win every game and I’m really grateful to the fans who came out and gave us their support and were still there and cheering at the end when we should have blatant penalty and they should have had the excitement of a penalty shoot-out. It’s a shame they didn’t get it.
"Again, grateful for the support, can’t fault one bit of the effort of the players on the pitch and it wasn’t to be, so we dust ourselves down and get as many bodies fresh and ready for Sunday as we can.”