MARK Beesley re-emphasised the need for his Warrington Town side to stay united after their FA Cup exit on Saturday.

Yellows exited the competition at the first hurdle as Curzon Ashton edged them out at the UNIS Compliance Stadium thanks to ex-Town midfielder Stefan Mols’ winning goal.

> Read the full story of the FA Cup clash here

The defeat extends Town’s winless run to six matches but Beesley, who demanded a response following an insipid display in defeat to Banbury United last time out, insists his side deserved more from the game.

“I think we were really unlucky today,” he said.

“It was chalk and cheese compared to how we played last week – we gave it everything and were really unlucky to go out.

“We’ve hit the post twice, we’ve had shots cleared off the line and we’re on the wrong end of things at the moment.

“I don’t think their penalty is a penalty, we’ve given them another leg-up by conceding after three or four minutes.

“Sometimes, that’s the way it goes but in terms of performance today, we were much more like ourselves.”

After Isaac Sinclair opened the scoring early for the visitors, two goals in five minutes turned the game in Town’s favour.

Dylan Mottley-Henry converted the rebound after Curzon keeper Cameron Mason spilled an effort from Bohan Dixon, who later curled a superb effort into the bottom corner.

Mottley-Henry then had a goal disallowed for offside before the visitors were awarded a penalty when George Waring was adjudged by referee Harry Jones to have been dragged down in the area.

Town stopper Dan Atherton got a hand to Will Hayhurst’s penalty but could not keep it out and the sides went into the break level.

The hosts stepped things up after the break, with Connor Woods striking the crossbar before Mottley-Henry glanced a header off the woodwork seconds before Mols headed home Hayhurst’s cross for the winning goal.

“We’ve got to keep believing and to be fair, they did,” Beesley said.

“We changed a few things today and they started working – we controlled where they had the ball and where we wanted them to be, we looked a threat on the counter-attack and on another day, we could score a few more.

“They had a lot of possession, but the three centre-halves had the ball which is exactly what we wanted.

“Dan (Atherton) hasn’t made a save all game so we’ve done something right, but we’ve conceded three goals.

“We give away a penalty and if that’s a penalty, there’s penalties in every game. There’s contact, but he’s thrown himself to the floor and the ref has bought it.

“We need to be better at doing that – it’s happening against us and we’ve got to be wise to it.

“When things aren’t going your way, these things happen but we’ve got to keep going and believing in each other.

“We had 13 fit players today and it will be even less now, but what can we do?

“We can’t hide – I know the lads and their characters and we’ve got to keep believing in what we’re doing.”