Tadcaster Albion boss blames lack of focus straight after half-time for FA Cup defeat to Macclesfield FC

The Brewers were always going to be up against it in their first qualifying round clash with a Macclesfield outfit who play their football two divisions higher up the pyramid and are managed by former Premier League star Robbie Savage.

But they produced an excellent defensive performance during the first period, only to then concede within 40 minutes of the restart, eventually going on to lose Saturday’s fixture 3-0.

“The early goal in the second half has killed it,” O’Connell said.

“Our shape and discipline in the first half was excellent, we limited them to very few chances. I know they had a lot of the ball, but the way we set up, I thought that we frustrated them.

“We spoke about half-time about staying narrow and being solid for 10-15 minutes, so to concede like that straight from kick-off, the game-plan is out of the window.

“It makes a huge difference. Naturally, you open up a little bit to try and go and make something happen, but when you open up against a good team like that, they have the quality to punish you.”

Albion’s previous outing, in the NCEL Premier Division, was a very different affair, with the Brewers romping to a 6-0 success at home to Goole.

“I thought we were good value on the night,” O’Connell said. “I thought we could have scored another couple of goals. “We dominated the ball, we created a lot of chances, we caused them all kinds of problems, but we had been due one of these results.

“We’d played well in a few games and not got our just rewards.”

Luca Bolino netted a stunning first-half hat-trick during Tadcaster’s win against Goole, with Elliott Andrew, Alfie Dean and Junayd Cassius-Gill all registering after the interval.