BOREHAM Wood boss Luke Garrard could not disguise his disappointment following his side's FA Trophy exit at the hands of Southend United.
Wood rarely threatened during their 2-0 defeat at Roots Hall.
And Garrard was a frustrated figure at the final whistle.
"Every year we want to be as successful as possible in the FA Trophy," Garrard told Boreham Wood's YouTube channel.
"We want to go to Wembley and we want to win it, that’s a desire of ours.
"But that was a 2-0 battering and Southend stuck it on us all over the park.
"I take full responsibility for picking a side and a system and making changes but I have question some people on their effort and endeavour to put in a shift."
Goals from Noor Husin and Nathan Ralph saw Blues set up a fourth round tie with Darlington in the fourth round.
And Garrard felt the Shrimpers' superior hunger proved key - despite the club's financial issues.
"No disrespect but there’s a side there who are getting paid week in, week out and getting paid every month and a side who aren't," said Garrard.
"But they looked like the side who were hungry and had endeavour.
"That’s full credit to Southend, it was a 2-0 drumming and that was not as close as the scoreline suggests.
"They had a very productive first half and we looked lacklustre and lazy.
"They countered quicker than we recovered and recovered quicker than we countered.
"Full credit to them and their staff because they thoroughly deserved to beat us."
And Garrard also thought Blues stopped his own side being able to threaten.
"We weren’t good enough but the opposition didn’t allow us to be good enough," said Garrard.
"They were like a rash and got after you.
"They counter pressed superbly and looked hungry.
"We had good possession at times but people weren’t running beyond the ball and that’s about hunger.
"I'm devastated to go out of the Trophy because it’s an opportunity to get to Wembley and I don’t know why people pass that up.
"We have people, five days away from Christmas Day, travelling and paying their hard earned cash to witness that.
"I hold my hands up because we were nowhere near it all over the park. We all need to reflect and I won’t have a nice Christmas now because of that.
"It hurts me and pains me that we come here and serve that up.
"It’s not good enough."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here