St Albans City boss David Howell admitted his team were a disappointment after they were dumped out of the FA Trophy following a 2-1 home defeat to Arlesey Town.

The Saints went into the cup tie with five consecutive wins but a below par display against their Southern Premier Division rivals meant they suffered an early exit from the competition.

Howell said: “It’s unfortunate that we’ve gone out of one of the cups. It’s disappointing not just that we’ve gone out but the way we’ve gone out.

“We’ve got a disappointed changing room and they know they’ve underperformed and they know they haven’t done what they’ve been doing over the past few weeks. It’s just a matter of how we look to bounce back when things don’t go our way.

“I don’t think our technical players were bright enough early enough. We took too long on the ball where we were taking too many touches. It just didn’t flow at all and it was disappointing. We just didn’t gel enough for me.”

St Albans got off to a promising start when Curtis Ujah marked his return from suspension by firing them in front.

But former striker Drew Roberts netted the equaliser for Arlesey from the penalty spot and he provided the cross for Chris Dillon to score the second-half winner. It left the Saints with just one win from their last 11 Trophy matches.

The former Harrow Borough boss said: “The defeat was not very good to take. I thought we started off OK and got the early goal and in and around that period we were looking pretty decent.

“The lads have been working hard up until the game and in training they were looking very bright and sharp.

“Curtis sensed that opportunity and put it in the back of the net. But one of the things I told the players to guard against was giving away unecessary free-kicks.

“I think that was probably our undoing because their biggest threat was when they threw big centre halfs and central midfielders forward. Danny Gordon gave away a needless free-kick which led to their penalty.

“I just felt we lacked a bit of impetus going forward on the wings because they doubled up on Sean Shields. Having made changes we never got back into the rhythm that we had in and around the first goal. It was always difficult to get back in the game with their strong defenders.”

The Saints struggled to handle the physical presence of the visitors and attacking threat Sean Shields found himself crowded out by a couple of players in an effective tactic which frustrated the hosts. But Howell believes his side needs to be able to adapt to these different challenges.

He said: “I was expecting it to be a test where they made it difficult for us but I just felt we never got going in the second half at all. Their goal was about the only shot Nick had to save all half.

“The test I was expecting never came. The test that we failed to pass was how to deal with a side that might look to double up on our wide players and get physical. We never really dealt with that fully.

“There were occasions where they doubled up on Sean but Chris Seeby had lots of room and he’s got to make better use of that. When he’s got two players around him then that means someone else is free. He’s got to be able to look to move the ball early.”

St Albans return to action in the FA Cup this weekend when they face Lowestoft Town at Clarence Park.