Bradford Park Avenue boss John Deacey was full of praise for his players after they “scared” Doncaster Rovers before bowing out of the FA Cup at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Deacey’s side trailed 2-0 at half-time but Richard Marshall gave Avenue hope of causing a first-round upset by pulling a goal back.

It was not until Rovers restored their two-goal cushion 15 minutes from time that the League One side could feel safe as they finally won 3-1.

Deacey said: “It hurts to lose, it always does, but I can’t fault the players for their effort.

“At 2-1 we had a very good spell and I thought we had Donny a little scared. But once it went 3-1 I think we all knew it was over.

“We knew we could give them a game but we were always wary of their quality at set-pieces and that was our downfall in the end.

“There were some big performances from our players and the lads did the club proud. We got into the game and made life difficult for Donny.

“But Dean Saunders has a very good squad and he always had the option of throwing on even more quality and experience from the bench.”