OXFORD City interim joint manager Andy Ballard was philosophical after his side’s heavy FA Cup first round defeat to Solihull Moors.

The hosts were beaten 5-1 at Court Place Farm by their higher-ranked rivals.

And Ballard said he could have no complaints.

“It wasn’t pretty for us,” he admitted. “It’s unfortunate as we had played well in our last three games.

“But we just didn’t turn up. All credit must go to Solihull, they are a fantastically strong outfit, very professional, and made very few mistakes.”

The visitors came to City with a direct game plan, which proved extremely effective.

“The way they play made it very difficult for us to implement our own game on them,” Ballard said.

“Our levels just weren’t there, and we’re really disappointed in that.

“We wanted to start quickly as we have done in our last three games, but we just weren’t able to impose our game on Solihull.”

Ballard insists City must put the loss behind them as they look to build on an improved run of form in Vanarama National League South.

He said: “We can’t let this affect us, we’ve got to put it to bed and look to Chelmsford next week.”