CHAIRMAN Dave Boddy accused Worcester City of not being up for the battle in the FA Cup.

City crashed out at the second qualifying round stage for the first time in three seasons with a 1-0 defeat at Tamworth.

Matt Williams scored the decisive goal seven minutes into the second-half and Boddy reckons City, who won 2-0 at The Lamb in Blue Square North three weeks ago, looked incapable of forcing a replay.

He said: "I am bitterly disappointed in the manner in which we have gone out - we've gone out with a whimper. Apart from Adam Webster's chance in the first 20 minutes I don't think we've had another chance throughout the 90 minutes. We've continued to pump the ball forward in the air.

"I always thought it was a difficult tie when the draw was made.

"It was a disappointing draw when you look at the other possible draws in our group and Tamworth is a difficult place to go at the best of times.

"We won here a few weeks ago but, as a cup tie, it didn't have anything about it.

"There was no atmosphere about the game, there was no passion about the game from either side. Quite frankly, it was two poor teams."

Defeat also means Worcester miss out on the £3,750 prize pot and Boddy now believes it could be a case of going back to the drawing board for a team he says have run out of ideas.

"I think we are predictable," he said. "I spoke to someone in the week, another manager from our league, and he said the way that we approach the game was predictable and I think that sums us up. I thought last week was the worst display that we've had under Andy Preece, it was abysmal to be frank.

"Saturday's performance at Tamworth was only marginally better. We had a disappointing start to the season, but we picked ourselves up and went five games unbeaten and you thought we'd turned the corner, we looked solid.

"Then we threw in a performance like we had at Alfreton and you've got to re-group and start again."

Boddy added: "I didn't think Tamworth looked much better than the previous game. It was always going to be a case of who scored the goal and when they scored. With about 20 to 25 minutes left, I felt that given the way that we were playing and approaching the game, it was though we were almost resigned to defeat. I couldn't see a way of us scoring, and that proved to be the case."

However, Boddy defended the decision to include Nick Colley in the squad. Colley's 76th-minute substitute appearance as a replacement for Patrece Liburd was the first time he had set foot on to the Tamworth pitch competitively since his controversial exit from the club four years ago. His arrival was met with the predictable chorus of boos from the home fans but security was much tighter this time around.

Colley was escorted away by stewards when the two sides met on September 8 but that was extended to the whole team on Saturday with the players led out to the coach by police. The City chief said: "The manager picks the team and there's no way that we would ever interfere with any team selection. Nick Colley wanted to be here, he came on for 20 minutes and he's played his part."