Boss Cowan bemoans wasteful finishing as Brackley Town suffer FA Trophy giant-killing

Enterprise National League side Saints dominated possession and created a host of chances against their Step 3 opponents, but they didn't have their shooting boots on and paid the price as Walton secured a memorable victory thanks to an 80th-minute strike from Mason Obeng.

Walton & Hersham are enjoying a fantastic season, leading the way in their league by a whopping 12 points with two games in hand, and they carried their excellent form into the clash with Saints.

Cowan made five changes to the starting line-up from their most recent league win at Boston United back on December 30, but made it clear that was not the reason for his side's defeat.

"Firstly, congratulations to Walton & Hersham, those guys are having a pretty impressive season," Cowan told @BrackleyTownFC. "But to be honest, I think we dominated the game.

"We know they like to play, they are really brave and courageous on the ball, and I think we stifled them and dominated them throughout.

"Then we get caught on the counter, with individual mistakes, and again I don't know how many chances we have to create to score a goal, which has been the story of our season.

"So it is really disappointing, and I think it is a naive and soft performance. You have to be willing to get hurt, you have to be willing to put yourself on the line to score a goal, you have to be brave and willing to miss.

"But I feel like it's almost expected we are going to miss.

"We took a lot of big names out of the team, we have changed it around a lot, but it was still a team that should have gone out and won that game.

"It was a dominant performance from us, but you have got to put the ball in the back of the net and the lads have got to be better.

"I expect more from those individuals, they are top, top players and they should have done the professional job we set out to do.

"Individually, the players will think they have done okay but collectively we have lost the game and that is on me.

"We took out some players, and that wasn't any disrespect to Walton & Hersham, it was more down to the fact we have got some big games coming up and we want to keep everyone fresh.

"We felt that team would win, and I am really disappointed with the lack of ruthlessness in the final third."

Brackley were scheduled to travel to Eastleigh in the National League on Tuesday, but that match has been postponed as the Hampshire side are hosting Southport in the FA Trophy, with their match on Saturday called off due to a frozen pitch.

So the Saints have a free midweek before they entertain Yeovil Town at St James Park on Saturday (ko 3pm).