Mansfield Town offer no excuse for FA Cup exit
Last updated on .From the section Football
Mansfield Town assistant manager Micky Moore refused to use a sickness bug as a reason for Tuesday's painful FA Cup exit at the hands of Fleetwood Town.
Boss Paul Cox and top scorer Matt Green missed the 5-0 rout in the fourth qualifying round replay in Lancashire.
Several other players were also affected by the bug in the build-up.
"The sickness bug had an impact and there were four of five other players that had it, but I wouldn't use that as an excuse," Moore said.
After Saturday's 1-1 draw at Field Mill, fellow Blue Square Bet Premier promotion hopefuls Fleetwood went ahead through Richard Brodie and eased to victory with further goals from Sean Clancy, Gareth Seddon, Jamie Milligan and Andy Mangan.
"We went 1-0 down and then, on the stroke of half-time, we conceded a sloppy goal," said Moore.
"We went for it in the second half. We didn't sit back. You always leave yourselves open, but it's still very disappointing."
The Stags also suffered a nightmare journey, taking nearly six hours to travel the 125 miles from Field Mill to the Fylde coast.
"Little things didn't help," added Moore. "We are not using them excuse but it doesn't help your preparation.
"But we have to dust ourselves down and ready to face Cambridge on Saturday.
"We can't have any knee-jerk reaction to this result. We have to take it on the chin and concentrate on the league."
