Proud Guiseley manager Mark Bower said it was “gutting” his side did not get the FA Cup upset at Stevenage he felt they deserved.
The Northern Premier League visitors were eventually beaten 5-4 on penalties after an 83rd-minute Will Longbottom equaliser had sent the game to extra time.
However, Bower felt it should have been his team, and not League One Boro, who should have been celebrating a place in round two, pointing to a huge amount of bad luck that he felt haunted the Lions.
Bower said: “I’m really proud of the players, really proud. They put in such a monumental effort for us and showed good quality at times.
“We restricted them to next to nothing. For the goal they scored, our lads are adamant it was handball. We scored a perfectly good goal first half that nobody in the ground saw a foul for bar the referee.
“We don’t feel we had any luck, it just didn’t quite fall for us.
“We had the better chances too, you forgot at times that there are 88 places between the two teams.
“So I’m really proud, not just for the players but for the whole staff, everybody involved with the club and the great following we had down here. They made themselves heard.
“It is just gutting we didn’t get what I thought we deserved.”
Jamie Reid put Stevenage ahead in the 53rd minute but they were pegged back by Longbottom’s late leveller as the match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes.
In previous years, the sides would have gone back to Nethermoor Park for a replay but this year extra time and penalties in the first game is the method of deciding ties.
Two saves in the penalty shoot-out from Murphy Cooper ultimately sent Boro through, with one of those stops denying Lebrun Mbeka what would have been a winner for Guiseley.
“Yeah, we could have had a replay and they could have turned us over 3-0,” said Bower.
“Often with these games, you need to do it on the first attempt and these are the rules now.
“We were a penalty kick away from being delighted.
“Lots of things went against us but the lads kept going and I’m so proud of them.”
Stevenage manager Alex Revell had gone into the game just wanting a win.
He got it but was not impressed with how it came.
He said: “It was nowhere near the way we wanted it to be. The aim at the start of the day was to be in the next round, but not in that fashion.
“We were tested before the game with Luther Wildin pulling out in the warm-up so that obviously changed the way we were going to set-up.
“For Guiseley, this was their cup final, as it 100 per cent should be, and in the second half they were putting lots of numbers forward and making it difficult.
“It’s not the performance that we wanted. We wanted to come and win well, especially here in front of everyone watching, but it doesn’t always work like that in this cup.”
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