Boreham Wood boss Luke Garrard accused his side of having no fight, heart or desire as they were knocked out of the FA Cup, 2-1 in a first round replay by Northwich Victoria on Monday evening.

The former defender continued by stating Wood were “third best” to the Vics, who progress to a second round tie against League Two side Northampton Town at the beginning of next month.

Charlie MacDonald’s late overhead kick was not enough for Wood, who were already trailing to goals from Jordan Williams and Ryan Astles either side of half time.

Assessing his side’s performance, a candid Garrard said: “There was no fight, no heart and no desire.

“Everything we lacked, they had. And I felt they thoroughly deserved the win.

“I don’t think it was complacency,” he continued. “They have a winning mentality, they have a togetherness.

“You look at them across the board and they were hungry and fought for each other.

“For me I didn’t have that tonight. I felt our players though they could just leave it to their ability rather than working hard and I questioned that just then.”

Wood have not reached the second round of the FA Cup since 1998 and Garrard was bitterly disappointed to see his side meekly surrender their shot at a Football League side.

He said: “I spoke to them and it’s about the glory for me. I felt we had an opportunity tonight.

“We had a hard-fought draw up at their place. I felt playing on our pitch that it would favour us slightly.

“They came here with the same attitude that they probably went to Chorley with (in the previous round) and felt they could get the result and they did.

“It’s not because we performed badly, because we didn’t. They were phenomenal on the night and I give them a lot of respect.

“They’ve got a very good team and I said it: they’ve got a winning mentality.”

Asked what Wood could have done better, Garrard replied: “We could match their work rate.

“That’s the first thing I felt we had to do tonight: match their hunger, match their endeavour and match their desire.

“I felt we didn’t do that at all. I felt we were third best, let alone second best, all night.

“I’m just very disappointed.”

You can read the match report from Monday’s FA Cup exit by clicking here.