Frustration for Leighton Town boss Lee Bircham after cup exit at Barking

In the game that ended 1-1 in normal time, it was a fixture seemingly overtaken by the officials.

Despite this, Bircham was reserved in his address to club media and his first talking point was praising his squad.

“I’ve got to be so careful with what I say because it could get me in trouble! So I wont say it. Those boys in there were different class. They were outstanding, I couldn’t ask any more of them. They’ve had a night tonight where, everything that could go against you – does against you.

"They took a sucker punch with a goal but came back into it with a great goal from Leon.

“There’s the sending off, which is another straight red. But they’ve dug in again. We’ve had injuries like you wouldn’t believe – we’ve had boys not well today that would’ve played.

"Look, we took the penalties but fell that bit short I’ve gone in there and just praised every single one of them.

"Penalties are a lottery. You win them, you lose them. It’s one of them.”

Zooming in on Comas’ penalty save adjudged to be off the line, Bircham was honest in his reflection.

“If he (the ref) feels that’s the case, I don’t think we see a penalty taken tonight. Look, it is what it is,” he said.

“No sour grapes. Fair play to Barking, over two games they’ve grafted as well. But I think there was something like eight or nine bookings tonight without a bad foul in the game.”

The day’s frustrations aside, the manager was sure this would only better his group. In his final remarks, he offered a promising outlook to future fixtures.

“As a team building exercise, that was brilliant,” he added. “That will get us a lot further. I said it Saturday, its still a new group. It’s not like we’ve been together a long time with a lot of the players.

"To come through the adversity like they did tonight and to be spot kicks away from winning it, I think that’s phenomenal.”