htafc.com caught up with Town boss Stan Ternent in the immediate aftermath of the 1-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat at Darlington and he told us that his side could have got a result after a good second-half performance.

"It's a cup competition, but we would have liked to get a result; nobody likes losing," the Gaffer admitted. "I thought we were off the pace in the first-half but I thought we were excellent in the second and we had a really good go. We could have got something out of it.

"Our ten men had a really good go and I found out a lot of things about some of the players tonight, which was my intention. In many ways, out of all bad comes a little good. There were positive and negative things to come out of tonight - mainly positive.

"In the second-half we played two against two at the back to try and get back into it and we had a few opportunities; we hit the crossbar and had one or two other bits and pieces - Keigan came close, Andy (Holdsworth) got in right at the death and the guy cleared it. I was really pleased with their effort and endeavour in the second-half, but in the first half we were off the pace and some credit went to Darlington.

"Some of the players on the periphery before tonight may have a chance in the future - and some haven't. That's the idea though."

It would appear that one such player is young goalkeeper Alex Smithies, who performed well on his seasonal debut for the first-team.

"Alex did really well and that's one of the positives. Playing him is the only way we can find out about him, but I don't think there's any doubt that he has a good future in front of him if he maintains his progress.

"It's not difficult at all - if I think he's the best goalie, I'll put him in. If he's good enough, he's old enough. If I got another goalie in I may loan him out, but I might put him in the first-team.

"We've got two good goalkeepers who play for England, but what you normally find with kids is that they make progress and then for some unknown reason they take a step back. Their rate of progression kind of slows down and then they come again. It's happening at the moment with young James (Berrett), Skarzy and young Michael (Collins) but they are coming back towards it. They need to learn a bit more about the game and this is the only way they can do it."

One major setback was the dismissal of Gary Roberts, who was shown a straight red for a challenge on Darlington's Ricky Ravenhill and now faces a three-match ban. Ternent explained that he will review the video of the incident before making a decision on a possible appeal.

"I need to have a look at the video, but 'Robbo' hasn't made a tackle in his life so I can't see it. We'll have to see. I watched it on the screen and it was a reckless tackle from the kid (Ricky Ravenhill) really - he came sliding in and 'Robbo' is trying to kick the ball away; there was a coming together and I think he's got a bit of a cut above his knee. I didn't really see it that well, but I've asked the referee to have a look at it and we will ourselves. If we feel we have grounds, we'll ask him to reconsider it.

"It would be a three-match ban, but I won't know what the referee has deemed it to be until I get his report.

"As we stand at the moment, Boothy is not available as you know; Craney's not available, Liam Dickinson isn't due to his tight hamstring and Goodwin and Flynny have a bit of tonsillitis. Overall, we have a few bits and pieces and so this was an ideal opportunity to give some lads a chance.

"All in all, it's very disappointing to lose the game; the League is obviously the priority, but this is one of the best chances for teams at our level to get to Wembley. The first-half was not what I have come to expect of them, but the second half was very good and there were more positives than negatives."