MIKE Ford called on his side to sharpen up their act following a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Bishops Cleeve in the first qualifying round of the Buildbase FA Trophy on Saturday, writes Matthew Bruce.

The Puritans were unable to find a way past Cleeve goalkeeper Matt Wieczorek and were made to pay by the Evo-Stik Southern League Division 1 South & West visitors.

Jacob Davidge headed home the 77th-minute winner to stun the Premier Division side.

And the United boss was not pleased with the manner of his side’s exit from the competition.

“I’m getting frustrated losing games of football we should never be losing,” said Ford.

“It’s not just once or twice it’s happened, it’s four or five times.

“We should still be in the FA Trophy, we should have been in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup and we should be higher than we are in the league.”

After seeing his side’s winless run extended to three games, and failing to keep a clean sheet for the ninth successive match, Ford insisted the Puritans need to be harder to beat.

He said: “We actually played quite well on Saturday, but their goalie was magnificent and we didn’t defend well enough.

“I have no problems with the performance overall, but I think we’re just too easy to defend against.

“The ball is in the players’ court. Do they want to be a side who raise their game against the big sides and get the odd result, or do they want to do it consistently?”

On Saturday, Cleeve created the first real opening when Ben Hayes somehow failed to turn the ball in at the far post following Jack Watts’s cross.

But Banbury’s Conor McDonagh, George Nash and George Jeacock were all denied by Wieczorek.

The visitors started the second period brighter and went close to opening the scoring when Paul Holmes rattled a post.

And it was Cleeve who stole victory with 13 minutes remaining as Davidge’s header hit a post and found its way past Jack Harding.