MANAGER Les Parry admitted Tranmere’s early exit from the FA Cup was a self-inflicted wound.
Rovers went out in a first round defeat to Cheltenham Town at Prenton Park, just three days after falling at the third round stage of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Chesterfield.
“It had nothing to do with cup luck,” Parry said after a 22nd minute penalty from Darryl Duffy settled the game. “We just did not get started.
“We did not get into our stride in the first half and you think that after half time you can throw a switch and lift it up -- but it just does not work like that.
“In the second half we were a little bit better. The was a little bit more urgency. How much of that was down to Cheltenham dropping off I don’t know. We got a lot of balls into the box without getting on the end of them.”
Parry added: “I think it was a fair result. We did not keep possession well enough to put Cheltenham under pressure. The reason for that was we did not move the ball quickly enough.
“When the ball went up front we did not hold it up. A lot of our passes were intercepted.
“We played give-ball for a lot of the first half. Physically it is harder to chase the ball than to have the ball. So we did not do ourselves any favours.”
Parry said he did not see enough of the incident which led to the penalty -- a trip by Lucas Akins on Sido Jombati -- to complain about the decision by referee Craig Pawson.
But he added: “We have conceded seven penalties this season now and not had one ourselves.”
As Tranmere’s hopes of hitting a financial jackpot in the FA Cup disappeared for another year, Parry said the black mark on the season’s home record was another blow.
“We had a record where we had only lost one game at Prenton Park and now we’ve had a second, which happens to be in the FA Cup,” Parry said.
“We’ve had two consecutive defeats which happen to be in the cups and I could not kid anyone by saying I’m glad because we can now concentrate on the league.
“If someone could turn back the clock and offer us the chance to still be in both competitions, I would snap their hands off. We want to be playing games and winning games, not having weekends off.”
