FA CUP: DEVIZES Town were left cursing their luck after the Nursteed Road woodwork denied them three times in Saturday's FA Cup defeat at the hands of Dr Martens League new boys Taunton Town.
Dave Godley twice struck the post and Steve Richardson hit the crossbar as Devizes went out at the first qualifying round stage to Ellis Laight's sixth minute strike.
Devizes boss Ray Baverstock felt his side had done enough to earn themselves a replay.
He said: "I thought we deserved at least a draw, to be fair. They scored inside the first ten minutes and, although it was a decent goal, it was disappointing from our point of view to concede so early on.''
The manager added: "It was disappointing result-wise and we would have liked to have gone through, but we created chances and I'm very pleased with the performance from our lads."
The late arrival of the Taunton coach appeared to have little effect on the visiting players as prolific striker Laight gave Russell Musker's men the lead with a well-taken goal in the sixth minute.
But Devizes more than matched their visitors after the early setback and carved out enough chances to have set up a second qualifying round date with Dr Martens Premier Division outfit Tiverton Town.
Former Chippenham forward Dave Godley missed three decent first half opportunities, one of which struck a post, before Steve Richardson's effort cannoned back off Ryan Draper's crossbar.
New Devizes goalkeeper Callum Swann saved a second half spot kick and Godley again hit an upright in the closing stages as the hosts went in search of the elusive equaliser.
Baverstock was left to rue a catalogue of missed chances at the final whistle.
He said: "Dave Godley hit the post in the last five minutes and should really have scored.
"The writing was probably on the wall for us then, but I would have been more disappointed had we not created anything."
Sweeper Matty Goodwin became the latest player to make his Devizes debut on Saturday following his move from Cirencester last week.
Said Baverstock: "Matty Goodwin played very well on his debut. He is a very good player and I was pleased to get him.
"I'm sure he'll be a big benefit to us and will shore it up at the back playing behind two big centre halves."
The Devizes boss drew plenty of positives from his side's performance and feels his new-look team have made huge strides during the month he and assistant Pat Slattery have been in charge.
Said Baverstock: "Saturday's game was a bit of a yardstick for us and showed me that we have come some way since we took over five weeks ago.
"We must still make sure we tighten up overall and shut the ball down a bit more, but five weeks ago we'd have settled for that performance.
"I'm very encouraged and we've just got to take it into the league now. We've set a standard for ourselves and need to make sure that we don't drop that level of consistency."
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