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Chatham boss Scott Lindsey believes his team will come back stronger and better after their FA Vase exit on Saturday.
Chats suffered a third round defeat at the hands of Hellenic League leaders Flackwell Heath, despite dominating possession and chances.
But they were unable to break down a resilient Heath defence after failing to take the openings that came their way.
“First and foremost I’m disappointed to come out of the competition,” said Lindsey. “I feel that on reflection of the game we huffed and puffed but couldn’t get behind them or down the side of them and knock the door down.
“We had a lot of chances, we had seven on target compared to their three, 10 corners to their one, 70 per cent of the possession – we just couldn’t convert that.
“It’s a hard lesson but a good one to learn. We have to be better and make sure we’re better in possession, create more chances and it proved we’re not always going to have it our own way.
“We’re disappointed but we’ll learn from it.”
Lindsey also acknowledged the performance of the visitors, who put their bodies on the line in a bid to preserve their clean sheet.
Keeper Aaron Watkins and centre-backs James Essex and Muhamadou Ceesay all produced excellent displays and the Chats boss was impressed by the way Heath went about their work.
“It’s important that we give the opponents some credit,” added Lindsey. “They did a professional job on us. They scored quite early and banked up and made it difficult, they nullified the space in the final third.
“We couldn’t get behind them and down the sides. They made it really difficult. They stuck to the game plan but we just couldn’t get the goal.
“You always think you are going to score, especially because of how well we have been doing. You always have that belief that there is going to be one more chance.
“It was difficult, even when we had more chances we didn’t really pepper their goal. Sometimes we play a little loose because we know that we can always score goals and that can sometimes get us out of holes.
“Their keeper had a decent game, he is one of their best players and I thought that when I watched them last week. I’m not saying he kept them in it but he was one of their better players.
“They came and did a professional job. It’s good to see a manager come with a game plan – they made it really difficult.”
Chatham’s frustrations at failing to find a leveller contributed to a late red card for skipper Jack Evans, who was booked twice in 20 second-half minutes by referee Nick Dunn.
Lindsey noted: “It’s good to see that there are teams that can defend deeper and bank up and frustrate us. We’ve got to see if we can do better or create more or convert the opportunities – there’s always a positive to come from it.
“We were in territory that we’ve not been in before. We didn’t have it all our own way. When you are two or three-up you enjoy the game more but we didn’t have it all our way.
“We didn’t deal with it that well, we got frustrated. One of the things I try to hammer home is to be patient. There will be games like that – we just have to keep playing our way and the door will open – but we did get frustrated.
“Full credit to them but also full credit to my players, they did work hard and we just couldn’t break them down.”
