The Poppies were well below par at the Glassworld Stadium as Histon claimed a 1-0 win – a result that saw them drop to fifth place in the Blue Square Premier.

And Cooper, who called his players in for training yesterday, pulled no punches as he admitted his team "weren't good enough".

The Poppies boss said: "I thought we were comfortable in the first half but never really threatened and if we had played like we did for the last 20 minutes for the whole game then we might have won.

"We weren't good enough. But we didn't deserve to lose and we didn't deserve to win. However, there will be two or three changes for Lincoln now.

"Two or three of our lads have, consistently over the last four games with the exception of the first Lincoln game when the pressure was off, not been at it.

"The changes will come across the midfield and up front. We didn't create enough and that's very disappointing.

"We tried to have a go late on. But people were making the wrong
decisions on the ball.

"If a couple of the players had their minds on Lincoln then it might just have cost them a place in the team.

"Without being blasé, I am not really bothered about tomorrow because the league is our bread and butter.

"We aren't going to win the FA Cup. But we are up there in the league so we have to concentrate on that and anything else is a bonus.

"That was a big game for us which we have lost and it's not good enough."

Cooper, meanwhile, was upset at referee Darren Sheldrake after he alleged the official told him he would be fairer with his decisions in the second half at Histon.

"To be honest there was no way we were going to get anything from the
referee," added Cooper.

"I spoke to him at half-time and he said to me that they had more
free-kicks than us and he said he would try to be a bit fairer in the second half. But that didn't happen and it wasn't a huge surprise."


Full coverage in today's Sport on Monday.