Steven Schumacher admitted his side lacked a killer instinct as Wanderers’ Vertu Trophy run came to an end, writes Pete Oliver.
A 1-0 defeat dashed the Whites’ hopes of reaching Wembley as Wrexham advanced to the semi-finals thanks to Andy Cannon’s second-half winner.
That was one of only two efforts on target from the hosts, while Wanderers failed to make the most of some dominant spells before hitting the post late on through John McAtee as a possible penalty shoot-out beckoned.
“I’m gutted, really, to be out at this stage,” said Schumacher. “We felt that this was a good opportunity for us tonight. We came here full of confidence and wanted to continue where we sort of left off on Saturday and use that momentum to try and start the game well.
“I actually thought we did that and the first 20 minutes, half an hour was okay. We played some really good stuff, tested their goalkeeper and had a few corners.
“In that period there we probably needed to score and I felt after the opening 25 minutes we sort of slowed the tempo down a little bit, which suited Wrexham probably more than it suited us.
“I'd say we lacked a little in ideas for the last 20 minutes of the first half and the second half was probably similar. It was tight. There wasn't much in the game and, unfortunately, just one moment of quality for them decided it.
“We almost took it to penalties when Macca hit inside of a post. It’s fine margins, but we just said there, though, that we've got to do a bit better, if we're honest.
“In the second half, we huffed and puffed, but we didn't really seem to have that little bit of energy, that little bit of guile to really cut them open and hurt them. I don't think it was a poor performance in general. We just didn't have that killer instinct.”
The defeat and exit at the quarter-final stage for the second season running leaves Wanderers with just a league campaign to pursue and their challenge to force their way into the top six.
Tuesday night’s League One results saw the Whites slip to eighth place in the League One table, but still just two points outside the play-off places ahead of Saturday’s trip to Shrewsbury Town when Wanderers will be seeking a fourth win in five league games after opening their account under Schumacher against Crawley last weekend.
“The main objective is still to try and get promoted,” added the Whites’ head coach, who will have Aaron Morley, Joel Randall, Alex Murphy and Szabi Schon again at the weekend after they forced to sit out the trip to the Racecouse Ground.
“That's what we're going to go for. We've got a tough game at the weekend away at Shrewsbury but if we can build on Saturday's result and get another three points on the board and stay in the hunt, then that'll be brilliant.
“Obviously, it won't be an easy game. Shrewsbury are playing well at the moment and it's going to be another tough one. It won't be too dissimilar to what we've seen tonight but we'll go there and give it our best shot.”
Watch the head coach's full post-match interview on Wanderers TV