Gary Brabin has told his players to keep their heads up after the disappointment of defeat at Wembley in the Play-off Final.

It is the second year running that the U's have finished second in the league but been denied in the division's showpiece play-off final at Wembley, but Brabin concentrated on the positive aspects of his first season in charge at United.

"I'm delighted with the lads and what they've given all season. We took automatic promotion to the last game of the season, we've come to Wembley and I thought we were the better side, we played some good football, and only for a few little decisions not going our way and possibly us being a bit better with our end product we could have easily won the game."

Brabin was incensed that Torquay's Tim Sills escaped any punishment at all for flattening Wayne Hatswell with an elbow early in the game, and after collecting what should have been his second yellow card for another foul on the defender he scored the Gulls' decisive second goal, while Phil Bolland was booked for two clumsy challenges to reduce his second to ten men for the last 15 minutes.

"I don't want anyone sent off but you see the elbow on Wayne Hatswell, after I'd told the referee about the previous two, and he only gets a speaking to, while Phil Bolland makes two clumsy challenges and he's booked twice and sent off," fumed Brabin.

"Things like that either go for you or against you and unfortunately they've gone against us today."

Bolland's second booking followed a challenge on Benyon as United were caught short at the back while chasing an equaliser, Brabin admitted, "I'm not going to say it wasn't a foul, but there was no malice or intent, no one was in any danger of getting injured, and if you can tell me their two bookings and the elbow were only worth a talking-to then those are the decisions I'm talking about. They either go for you or against you."

United had the better of the possession and chances before the break and the U's boss confirmed, "In the first half I thought we were the dominant team by far, and I just thought our end product in the final third could have been a bit better.

"I was a bit disappointed that we dropped off too deep and they scored, but I still felt we could get back in the game. We started brightly again in the second half but when we went down to ten men we were up against it, although I still felt with ten men we played some good football but it just wasn't to be our day."

Brabin was pleased with the performance of goalkeeper Adam Bartlett, who was brought in on an emergency loan after Danny Potter damaged knee ligaments in training on Friday.

He added, "At the moment it is just for the one game. Danny Potter has played 52 games this season, and he's the only goalkeeper contracted to the club and on the wage bill so an emergency loan is something we had to do."

Having spoken to his players individually as they sank to the pitch at the final whistle, then trooped up the steps and down again before watching Chris Hargreaves lead his side up to collect the silver trophy, Brabin was clearly keen to begin putting the disappointment behind and planning for next season.

"The lads have given me everything since day one. We've got some good young players, we've played some great football and we've only been together for ten months so there's a lot to build on," he stated.

"Obviously we're disappointed but we need to regroup now and assess what's happened, dust ourselves down and get ready for next season.

"The lads are gutted; we've worked hard for what we've achieved and we're coming away from here having gained nothing, so it's going to be hard to take and there's a lot of disappointment, but over the next few days we're going to have to pick ourselves up and start focusing on next season.

"I think the lads have given a good account of themselves and we're gutted because we feel we were good enough to get promotion this year, but now we have to go away and assess the situation. We'll give the lads a couple of days off and then we'll all get together to have a chat about things.

"We need to meet the chairman and the board, the players, and the staff need to meet too, so there's a lot of work to do this week and hopefully we'll be a bit clearer towards the end of the week."

Asked about his own future, the U's boss concluded, "I've enjoyed this season and I'm absolutely devastated because I thought we were good enough to get promotion, but that wasn't to be.

"I'm going to meet with the board, the players, the chairman, the staff, and we've got to assess next season and as a group hopefully look forward to achieving that next season."

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