BOSS John Barton admitted Margate's two goals inside two minutes had knocked the stuffing out of his Worcester City side.

The St George's Lane club crashed out of the FA Trophy 2-0 -- but for 70 minutes proved equal to the challenge posed by their Nationwide Conference visitors.

City's hopes were dashed with goals from Simon Beard and a Leon Braithwaite penalty.

Barton felt the penalty was harsh on goalkeeper Danny McDonnell who appeared to connect with the ball before colliding with Phil Collins.

Overall though Barton was pleased with the manner in which his team acquitted themselves. "I thought we were the best team in the first half," he said.

"Looking at the game as a whole we've lost because we let our concentration slip when you need to see the job through for 90 minutes.

"Ultimately goals change games. Their goalkeeper made a brilliant save from Paul Carty's header and Mitch Counsell's shot only needs to go in and we're looking at a different scenario.

"I'm not saying we would have gone on to win the game, had we gone in front, but there's a thin line between success and failure.

"I don't think it was a penalty either and Danny said he got the ball first and then the man. I also thought Collins' run was offside but two goals in a minute was a double whammy and it knocks you down.

"We're disappointed with the result but we've got no reason to be critical of the performance.

"I thought we had a response that we were looking for so though we are down we are certainly not out and next week we have a Tamworth-style match at Stafford Rangers."