Ernie Batten says naivety cost Sheppey in their FA Trophy exit to Ramsgate.

The Ites led 2-1 as late as the 88th minute at Holm Park, only to lose the first qualifying round tie 3-2.

Boss Batten felt they their contributed to their own downfall having been minutes away from advancing.

“I thought we played well but I said to the lads we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and I don’t feel sorry for you because we had that game in our grasp,” he said.

“We’re 2-1 up, with a couple of minutes left, and it’s just about decision-making.

“We’re trying to play nice football in the wrong areas at times and that caught us out.

“We tried to play out a few times in the wide areas outside of our box instead of just clipping balls up the line and I think it’s naivety.

“We’ve got some young players in the changing room and I’ve said to them the quicker they learn, the better because if you don’t learn, you can’t move on and you’re not going to be successful.

“I am a bit of a football purist and I do encourage them to play at all times, when they can, but there has to be a limit to that.”

Dan Carr gave Sheppey a half-time lead and Jacob Lambert restored the advantage after Josh Ajayi’s free-kick equaliser.

Lewis Gard made it 2-2 and Joe Taylor won it for Ramsgate in the sixth minute of added time.

“Ramsgate have got a lot of quality, they’re going to have chances and we’re going to be under pressure,” said Batten.

“But I thought overall in terms of the game and the chances we created, we did well.

“Second half, I don’t know how we don’t get another goal to make it 2-0 and then I thought there was a clear penalty when Gil Carvalho’s pushed over as he goes through one-on-one.

Report: Sheppey 2-3 Ramsgate

“We didn’t seem to get much from the referee today but we can’t use that as any form of excuse.

“They had multiple free-kicks - I’m not saying they weren’t free-kicks - on the edge of our box but some of them seemed very soft compared to when you don’t give a penalty for what seemed like a clear push.

“But I’ve got no excuses. I thought we acquitted ourselves well.

“We were very close to beating a side who in terms of the personnel they’ve got and depth of squad they’ve got, are clear favourites to win the league in my opinion.

“I’m bringing on 18-year-old kids out of uni and they’re bringing on ex-Conference and Football League players.”