Brackley suffer 'character-building' defeat ahead of Scunthorpe clash

The Saints had marched into a 2-0 lead at Braintree Town in the third qualifying round tie as goals from Dan Turner and Alex Gudger put them in control.

But the home side hit back, bagging three goals before the final whistle to book their place in the next round.

And Cowan said: "We've been bitten on the backside by the FA Cup.

"I was really pleased with the first half because when you go there you're going to have to battle really hard to earn the right to get in the game.

"I thought we were excellent in the first half, really started to turn the screw and then again, we get ourselves 2-0 up and we're seemingly in cruise control.

"But then we just got complacent and there's no excuse for it. It's not acceptable. We were already on the coach on the way home.

"This is the FA Cup and the winner is a pretty extraordinary strike.

"We're disappointed and we shouldn't have been allowing that last half hour to happen.

"We had a big chance at the end and I've said to the lads that we have to be accountable because we've been dominating games and not putting the ball in the back of the net.

"We had two swipes at the ball two yards out late on and you've got to score.

“Other teams will score so we have to hold ourselves to the same standard."

Brackley now prepare to return to league action this Saturday as they travel to Scunthorpe United in Vanarama National League North.

And Cowan said: "What happened last weekend is character-building.

"We forget sometimes because we've had such a good start to the season but the last few weeks are character-building for the team.

"We've got 10 new players and we're still trying to find out about each other.

"I said to them that they will find out about each other after Saturday. They will see who’s in the thick of it and who's not, and who's going to be professional enough to see a 2-0 lead through.

"We're disappointed and frustrated with last weekend because it's the FA Cup and we've become a statistic.

"It's very frustrating but the positives to take from there are the first 60 minutes, a real battling first half, being in control, but unfortunately too many of us switched off and got on the coach too early."