Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt was left wondering how his side were knocked out of the FA Cup, after Solihull Moors condemned them to what was an undeserved 1-0 defeat.

The Bluebirds controlled the majority of proceedings in this fourth qualifying round tie, only for Solihull ‘keeper to produce a superb performance and other chances to go begging.

They were ultimately punished for their profligacy when Liam Daly’s 52nd-minute header proved decisive for the Moors and meant AFC missed out on the first round proper for the third season running.

It also ended a run of seven straight wins for Evatt’s men, although they will feel that they actually played better against the Moors than when they beat the same opponents 3-0 last month.

Evatt, who signed an improved contract with Barrow before the game, said: “That’s really disappointing, the fact that we’ve gone out of the FA Cup, but anyone who’s been at the game knows we didn’t deserve to lose that.

“We’ve dominated for pretty much 90 minutes, peppered their goal and had a couple of good opportunities, hit the post, their ‘keeper has made some very good saves, but we’ve been done by one set-piece.

“It’s really frustrating, but the boys’ performance levels were there again and for whatever reason it just wasn’t our day today.

“We desperately wanted a run in the FA Cup because, financially, it is important to this football club, but what’s more important is the bigger picture and our goals and ambitions for the rest of the season.

“It’s about how we react to this and how we go to Torquay and Dagenham next week.

“Hopefully we can perform like that because if we play like that, then 99 games out of 100 we’ll win. It’s not our day today, it’s frustrating, but we’ll have to dust ourselves down and go again.”