Bully fumes after shock cup defeat

Stafford manager Steve Bull admits his side got what they deserved as they were dumped out of the FA Cup in a shock defeat to Midland Alliance outfit Coalville.

Rangers became a scalp at Owen Street against a team some four divisions below them in the non-league pyramid, in a depressing day for Bully and the boys.

The visitors had even led through David McNiven's strike but it all went horribly wrong, with Carl Adams and Lee Miveld on target to add another name to the list of relative giants felled by the Leicestershire side.

Stafford miss out on the prospect of a lucrative away tie in the later rounds as a result, not to mention the £4,500 the winner of the tie received.

Bull said: "It was a very poor performance all over the park. We went over there and just didn't get out of the traps. We deserved to lose, even though it was an upset. I just cannot understand how we can win at Droylsden and Gateshead and then produce a display like that.

"It was a banana skin and we fell for it. The players may have been a bit tired after three games in a week but other teams are doing it and winning, so why can't we?

"There were a few home truths after the game and hopefully that will be taken on board."

Bully knows all too well what the competiton could have done for the club, or any non-league club for that matter. To add insult to injury, it was his first foray into the FA Cup as a manager.

He said: "We wanted to progress in the FA Cup, get through to those later rounds and then we would have been in with a shout of bringing some much-needed money into the club. A big away draw could have done that for us.

"But we didn't do ourselves any justice at all and it was embarassing. It was a scrappy game and we would have been happy with a draw."

With the Coalville disappointment still clear in the memory, Bully has called on his players to bounce back, starting against Harrogate at Marston Road on Saturday.

He said: "The league is our main aim and that is what we will now concentrate on. We return to the Blue Square North with an unbeaten away record and in a play-off place, so we must be doing something right.

"We cannot lose sight of the progress we have made. Saturday is gone now so lets move forward."