Jimmy Quinn was "very, very disappointed" with his players' showing on Wednesday night as they exited the FA Trophy at Histon for the second season running, and called on them to bounce straight back at Grays on Saturday.

"I feel sorry for the fans and I have to apologise because that wasn't my team out there tonight," he said afterwards.

"We got caught up in their way of playing and to be honest with you it was men against boys. You get games like this occasionally, but I thought our players let themselves down tonight.

"But you've got to take it on the chin and move on. Yes, it would have been nice to have a good run in the cup, but now we have nothing else to concentrate on but the league. I've just said to the lads that they owe a performance on Saturday.

"Histon looked better than us and we didn't look like we were going to score a goal, and you have to hit the target when you do get efforts. In the first half we had a lot of the play but no end product, and it stands out a mile that I need to get a striker or a couple of strikers in because you cant expect the defenders to keep clean sheets all the time; you need people putting the ball in the back of the net.

"It's all about money at the end of the day, but we'll do our best to try and get a couple of strikers in because we're getting pushed off the ball, we're not getting in the right positions and there's a lack of confidence in one or two of the lads up front at the moment, so a new face or two won't do any harm."

Many times in the first half of this season United came from behind to draw or win games, but after conceding the second goal early in the second half there never looked to be a way back.

"We've showed a lot of character coming from behind in games this year but that was abysmal tonight," stated Quinn.

"No excuses. We need to come in tomorrow and have a chat about it and then put it behind us, because we've got another game coming up on Saturday and another on Tuesday and these games are paramount; we're going to get back on track.

"I thought Histon were better than us in the midfield, they were better getting to the second ball, they had more bite in their play, they forced the issue and we knew all about that. The first goal was a joke to be honest and they were two poor goals.

"We didn't show enough aggression in forward areas to get beyond their defence and we didn't test their goalkeeper at all in the second half."

Quinn was also very disappointed by the two red cards shown for violent conduct to senior pros Paul Carden and Leo Fortune-West, who will both miss the next three games as a result.

"I thought the referee got it wrong on both occasions," said the U's manager. "I don't think they warranted red cards in my opinion, Leo's was just an awkward challenge, and they capped a disappointing day.

"But, as I say, you've got to take it on the chin. We didn't have enough fight tonight and the challenge now is to go to Grays and show the character to bounce back. We have to put this to bed, focus on the job and stay in contention in the league."

He concluded, "I can only apologise to the fans and I'm very, very disappointed by that tonight."

United are next in action at Grays Athletic on Saturday 19th January, kick-off 3pm, then at home to Droylsden next Tuesday, kick off 7.45pm.

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