MANAGER John Fowler felt his Whyteleafe side did not adapt to the conditions quickly enough as they were knocked out of the League Cup by Billericay Town on Monday night.
After being 4-0 down at one point, Leafe came back strongly but could not find an equaliser, losing the cup match 4-3 at a wet and muddy New Lodge.
And Fowler was disappointed with how his side exited the competition.
"I think we just gave ourselves too much to do after our first-half performance," Fowler said. "We had a game plan but they didn't follow it, they went and started doing things which weren't suited to the conditions.
"We made mistakes and we said before the game about not giving away anything silly like set-pieces to allow them to load the box which they're pretty good at and that's what happened.
"You can't come to a side that play in the Ryman Premier, give them four goals and expect to get anything out the game.
"We got what we deserved but, credit to the lads, they've dug in, rolled their sleeves up and gave a good second-half performance. If they had done that from the start then it could have been a different scenario."
