BOSS Mark Collier pulled few punches in a withering assessment of his side's performance as the Bluebirds crashed out of the FA Trophy at Bedford Town.

The visitors ultimately paid the price for an opening 45 minutes that their manager described as "not acceptable,'' as the Evo-Stik League Southern Central Division Eagles caused an upset with a 2-1 victory.

Jeff Woodward gave Bedford a seventh-minute lead when he converted at the near post and a Tom Liveredge penalty doubled the advantage before the break after Greg Tindle was adjudged to have handled in the area.

The Bluebirds improved after half time, dominating possession, and Mark Preece halved the deficit as he scored his second goal in a Town shirt. However, Collier's men were unable to restore parity as their cup journey came to a dispiriting conclusion.

Collier admitted: "We didn't see that performance coming and we had a very disappointed group of players afterwards.

"The players need to ask themselves some questions and myself and Tom (Jones, assistant) will also go away and analyse it. There is no skipping over that performance.

"We can't wait for the next game to come so we can go out and put some things right.''

Collier conceded that the first half had effectively decided the game, with Chippenham off the pace and allowing their hosts to build an ultimately decisive lead.

He added: "In the first half we were very poor and, to be honest, we were happy to get in at half time only 2-0 down.

"The second half was a vast improvement and we probably had 95 per cent of the possession but we weren't cute enough to break them down again. Overall, it was a very bad day.

"We didn't start well. We slightly changed the system to accommodate the way they played and went with three at the back before we changed to four later on.

"But there were too many poor performances - we just weren't good enough.

"They (Bedford) got in our faces and before we knew it, were were 2-0 down. We've gone there as favourites to win the game but Bedford have outfought us, especially in that first half. It was not an acceptable 45 minutes.''

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