Unacceptable – but Bognor Regis Town must use Sussex Cup defeat to spur them on

Bognor were stunned to be hit for six at the Sportsfield in the quarter-final clash on Tuesday thanks to Finlay Chadwick’s strike, braces from George Gaskin and Nodirbek Bobomurodov and a goal from Ollie Starkey. The visitors’ consolation goal came from Isaac Olaniyan to make to 2-1 to the hosts but the expected fight back didn’t materialise.

Now Blake says they must put the loss behind them as they head in to a clash against Cheshunt at the MKM Arena on Saturday.

Littlehampton v Rocks in pictures by Lyn Phillips and Trevor Staff.

Sitting in seventh spot in the table on the back of six wins on the spin, the Rocks are perfectly poised to break into the play-off places should they be able to maintain their excellent league form.

And while acknowledging the bombshell reverse against the Golds, Blake says the focus must now be on the remaining fixtures that can demonstrate just how far he has brought the Nye Camp outfit.

He said: “It’s very difficult to be critical of the players because we have done so well of late. The players need to understand if you don’t work hard, you don’t do the fundamentals and you lose all 50-50s you don’t come out on top -- overall, it was a bitterly, bitterly disappointing night.

"They wanted to win more than us on the night and they were by far the better team. They fully deserved the win and it could have been more. It’s a huge wake-up call for us and I can’t wait for the game against Cheshunt now to be honest.

“It’s fair to say that we have been absolutely outstanding in terms of our league form of late, managing to pick up six wins on the trot, which is superb form. But just when you think you have found some rhythm and consistency a game comes up that leaves you scratching your head. That game for us came on Tuesday night when we were convincingly beaten.

"The result was unacceptable as was the performance and it was obvious from the very off that our attitude was off too. Have we learned valuable lessons from the loss? Absolutely! Of course, we had reminded the players that the mindset had to be right for this game, given the defeats we had suffered at the hands of lower league opposition earlier in the season against Burgess Hill Town in the FA Cup and South Park in the FA Trophy.

"But for one reason or another our approach didn’t reflect that advice and it was truly a night to forget. The only real positive for me was the level of fantastic support that our supporters gave the team on the night, and from all of us, I want the fans to please accept our thanks for their continued superb backing."