FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Stotfold 3 Colney Heath 1 JOINT manager Scott Lacey felt defeat was harsh on his side as they bowed out of the FA Cup at Stotfold on Saturday. The Magpies began the game brightly and were inches away from taking the lead

FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Stotfold 3 Colney Heath 1

JOINT manager Scott Lacey felt defeat was harsh on his side as they bowed out of the FA Cup at Stotfold on Saturday.

The Magpies began the game brightly and were inches away from taking the lead when a thunderbolt shot from Jake Parratt was tipped behind. From the resulting corner, mistakes proved costly as Stotfold broke and opened the scoring. Lacey said: "Jake Parratt, who has been excellent for us, took on three players and bent his shot into the top corner only for their goalkeeper to somehow tip it away. He pulled off a worldy. We then duffed the corner and conceded a free kick. They knocked it long, headed it on and their guy ran through and scored. We had made a brilliant start for the third game running and to go behind like that was so, so disappointing."

The Magpies got back into the game when the lively Parratt again bemused the home defence before firing a sizzling shot that was too hot for the Stotfold 'keeper to hold and the loose ball was tapped home by prolific marksman Richie Howard. Lacey said: "We got back into the game with more trickery from Jake Parratt and a great shot across the box. Richie Howard tapped it in and he has seven goals in seven games for us now including pre-season."

Lacey was sure his side would go on to book their passage into the second round but they conceded a second and then late in a late third as they were chasing the match.

The Magpies sparkled with a 6-1 win in a friendly contest on Tuesday night and after the young reserve side defeated local rivals London Colney 5-1, Lacey has competition for places in the side for the trip to Kingsbury London Tigers on Saturday. Lacey said: "We had an encouraging game on Tuesday and we played a lot of lads who have been patient and they really impressed. The reserves had a thumping win against their local rivals and that is testament to the hard work put in by Dave Little and Steve Chittenden.

"We want a little bit of continuity but we have conceded seven goals in two games. Our attacking options are some of the strongest in the league but maybe we are too attacking or maybe our defence is not working hard enough. We will be working on defending as a team in training on Thursday.