DORCHESTER Town manager Tom Killick rued a missed opportunity in the 3-1 FA Trophy defeat at Merthyr Town, stating: “The game was there for the taking”.

The loss means Dorchester’s wait to reach the FA Trophy main draw goes into a fourth year, despite a largely positive display in Killick’s first game as boss.

Leighton Thomas cancelled out Lewys Twamley’s opener but Dorchester hit the post through skipper Jordan Ngalo in the second half.

Tom Hillman restored Merthyr’s lead three minutes later, but the Magpies again rued their luck when Shaq Gwengwe had a goal ruled out for offside.

READ MORE: Merthyr Town 3-1 Dorchester Town - report

Will Spetch was then sent off as last man, Dorchester’s third red card in the last 11 games, and the visitors never recovered as ex-Magpies man Olly Mehew sealed the Martyrs’ progress to the main draw.

Killick told Echosport: “There was a lot of good things but the thing we can’t escape from is it’s not about how young we are, it’s about how many games we win.

“It’s not about what we might be in six months, what we might be in a year. It’s about the here and now.

“We have to understand that we’ve got a responsibility to win matches now. You have to find a way to do that. The fact we’re a young team is irrelevant, it’s about how good we are.

“It’s not a disaster because there were a lot of good things.

“I felt the game was there for the taking and we’ve just come up short. It’s not all negative by any means but we can’t hide behind the fact we’re very young squad.

“We have to produce results.”

Killick did not dwell on Ngalo hitting the woodwork or Gwengwe’s offside goal, even though he felt the latter should have stood.

He added: “I haven’t seen it back but I was fairly convinced Shaq’s goal was onside.

“The difficulty is at our level that the referee seems to get a little jumpy. There were things that didn’t go our way but we can’t hide behind that.

“We have a responsibility to win matches on a regular basis. We have to be resilient enough to start getting results.

“To me, their second goal is a killer because I felt we were having quite a good spell at that point.

“You would’ve felt we were the team that would go on to win it, then we’ve let in a poor second goal.

“It’s important we don’t make excuses because a big part of trying to get better is having a big sense of responsibility. That has to be our focus.”

Dorchester visit Gosport on Wednesday and are then due to host Bracknell on Saturday, although the latter fixture is likely to be postponed due to the Robins' progress in the FA Cup.